The Way It Has To Be
by simplygone
Summary: AU Naruto has become a member of the Akatsuki for reasons he really will not say. Many in Konoha believe it was because of his father, but the truth is far from that. Rated M for language and violence
1. The Two Cloaked Figures

**This is a new story that was swimming in my head for a while. I hope you enjoy this story. Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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**1. The Two Cloaked Figures**

The wind howled violently, picking up sand as it went. An ocean of sand was all that could be seen for miles at end. Each blow of wind kicked more and more sand into air. Nearby a trail of footprints that had recently been made started disappearing because the wind blew covered the tracks. Up ahead walked two figures, both wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it wearing very large straw hats covering their faces. They walked and walked and walked until finally civilization came into their view. Shortly the two stopped and stared.

"So this is Sunagakure, huh?" asked a young male's voice. If anyone could tell, he could be of fifteen or sixteen years of age.

"Yes and I thought I'd never have to return here," replied the other young voice maybe of eighteen or nineteen.

"Shall we continue then? We need our objective," the younger of the two said.

"Yes," replied the older male and soon the two began walking toward the village. The supposed guards were sleeping as the two cloaked males approached the village. They stopped and the older of the two began performing seals.

"Using that paralyzing jutsu again?" asked the younger male.

The older teammate nodded and replied, "Even if they woke up, they won't be able to move anywhere."

The younger male nodded, "I'll wait here."

Once the older teammate was out of site, the one that was willing to wait behind trotted off in a sort of different direction and began to hop over the large wall, soon the male was out of sight.

* * *

The cloaked-nin walked calmy into Sunakagure _(Hidden Sand)_ The people were walking around in their desert clothes, some with their mouths and noses covered so they do not inhale the sand being blown around through the village. The cloaked-nin noticed that no one was really paying attention to him as he continued onward toward what he thought was where his tartget was. He finally noticed a few ninja looking out on towers.

'_I'm getting closer, I should take those guards out.'_

And when no one was watching, the cloaked-nin quickly ran up the walls of the tower and quietly snuck up on the un-expecting guards. He quietly drew out his sword, it was a thin blade and only six inches long, until he pumped his chakra into it and it transformed into a large blade that any normal person would not be able to hold. It now looked to be three feet long and ten inches wide. He quickly beheaded the three guards in one swipe. Blood splashed everywhere but there was no noise and the cloaked-nin realized the guards on the other tower across the street and not noticed the slaughter just yet so he quickly got off the tower onto the other, beheading those guards quickly without warning nor sound.

'_Alright, that takes care of that, now to sneak in on the Jinchuuriki.'_

The cloaked-nin returned to the streets and began walking as if nothing had happened. He was sure he'd capture his target without any resistance if he continued the way he was executing his plans.

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"That should conclude our meeting," said a man wearing a large white hat and white robes. Everyone sitting at the round table got up and started walking out the door. The last one to leave was one teen with redish brown hair, dark bags under his eyes, the Kanji for 'love' on the left side of his forehead wearing white hat with a tan triangle with the Kanji for Kazekage and white robes, Gaara, the Godamie Kazekage _(5__th__ Wind Shadow)_ He walked through the hall a bit before entering his office but he did not sit down. He looked out the window for a while, he knew something was wrong.

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The cloaked-nin continued walking down the streets, he saw a building he hadn't seen in years, the Kazekage's mansion and beside it, the tower the Kazekage would conduct the village's business and assign the shin obi of Suna _(sand)_ their missions.

'_It hasn't changed since I was last here,'_ the nin thought.

He looked around for a moment and the sea of people that were walking through the streets had disappeared once again, this was his signal, he quickly dashed for the mansion. Once he reached it, he quickly climbed up the side of the building so he could travel on the roof, sneak into the office of the Kazekage, catch him off guard, knock him out and quickly escape Sunagakure _(Hidden Sand)_. That was supposed to be the plan, and as soon as he reached the roof of the Kazekage's mansion, there were a couple of ninja waiting.

'_Damn it!'_

"What is your business here in Suna _(sand)_?" asked one of the Suna Jounin.

"And why are you on the roof of the Kazekage's mansion?" asked the other.

The cloaked-nin was silent for a while before speaking, "I don't have to answer your stupid questions. It should be painfully obvious why I am here unless your village has been living under a rock for the past few years."

Another Jounin joined the two; this one had half his face hidden with a cloth.

"Baki-sama, what are you doing here?" asked one of the Jounin.

"I saw who you stopped, I've come to warn you. This man is a member of the Akatsuki, a group of missing-nin who seek the nine Bijuu _(Tailed Beast)_. I did not want you to make fools of yourselves," replied Baki.

The Akatsuki member began to laugh cold-heartedly, "Baki, it's been a while."

Baki turned his head to face the Akatsuki ninja, he held a look of question, "And do I know you?"

The Akatsuki member removed the straw hat that completely shadowed his face and revealed a brown-haired, aqua-eyed young male. Baki's eyes widened.

"Hashi!" he said with shock, "You're supposed to be dead!"

Hashi began to laugh, "I faked it."

Gasps came from Baki and the other two Jounin. "But why?" asked Baki, "You were a great ANBU captain?"

"I grew tired of this dump," replied the missing-nin. "I rarely got missions, and at the time I left, the Yondaime _(4__th__) _was starting to disband some of the ANBU squads because of the lack of funds!"

"I know times were tough, but look at you, you've associated yourself with the Akatsuki!" yelled Baki.

Hashi's eyes narrowed and drew his sword and transformed it back to the huge sword. He changed at Baki, the two Jounin that were questioning him just moments before intercepted, but Hashi was two quick, he jumped and slammed his right foot into one of them, spun, and slashed the other Jounin clean in half. He landed back on the roof and charged at Baki once again, sword ready to slash through. Baki managed to side step out of the way to avoid a deadly blow, but still wasn't enough to completely evade any injury as Hashi's sword still cut him across the stomach. Baki fell to his knees, clutching the slash across his stomach, blood started seeping through his hands. He turned to the Jounin that was still alive.

"G-get m-me a Medic," he said.

The Jounin nodded and ran off. Hashi leaped and was about to leap onto the Kazekage's tower then a figure caught his eyes. He turned to find Gaara standing with his arms crossed on the roof just staring him down.

"The were right, you are the Kazekage now," Hashi said.

"Kousa Hashi," the emotionless voice spoke, "You're still alive I see."

Hashi smirked, "Yes I am," and charged at Gaara. Gaara stood patiently, when Hashi got close enough, Gaara brought his hand up and sand quickly and slammed into Hashi, full force. Hashi then turned into a log. Gaara's eyes widened a bit, but did not alter his unfazed expression.

"I know all about you Gaara," a voice from behind said, "It's over."

Hashi quickly brough his huge sword down at Gaara, attempting to slice right through him. The sand caught the sword and Hashi was unable to cut through Gaara.

'_This damn sand,' _thought Hashi. The sand then pushed Hashi away and Gaara turned and lifted his hands in the air. The sand began wrapping itself around Hashi.

"**Sabaku Kyuu** **_(Desert Coffin)_**," Gaara said to himself.

Soon the sand completely covered Hashi. "**Sabaku SouSou** **_(Desert Graveyard)_**,"he said to himself once more. The sand quickly crushed Hashi and sand began to rain down onto the roof but Gaara realized there was no blood among the sand.

"Got to be quicker than that Gaara," yelled Hashi from a top of the Kazekage's tower. Gaara turned around, but was still not fazed by Hashi's apparent escaping.

"I may have left this village as an ANBU, but I've been training under the Akatsuki for the last two and half years, I'm just as strong as them now!" yelled Hashi and quickly went through hand seals, "**Fuuton: Kaze no Suna no Jutsu** _**(Wind Release: Winds of the Sand Technique**)_**!**_"_

A violent wind ripped through the air, kicking up sand and turning it into a weapon and it hit Gaara head on. The wind was so powerful, everyone including Hashi had to turn away to avoid injuring their eyes. Soon the Jutsu wore off and when Hashi turned back, Gaara was no longer on the roof.

"Did I blow him away?" he asked himself.

Suddenly he saw sand sneaking its way up to him, "Kuso! _(shit)_" he yelled and started playing cat and mouse with the sand that was after him. Finally, with enough dodging, Hashi saw Gaara was floating in the air with inside a ball of sand. He smirked, this was chance, if he could get Gaara to completely close off the ball of sand, the final attack would commence.

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Baki was bleeding intensly, it had been twenty minutes since he sent the other sand Jounin to get Medical ninja. Finally the Jounin returned with three medics and Kankurou, who was wearing all black with a hood that looked like cat ears and thick red lines painted on his face.

"What's going on?" asked Kankurou.

"The Akatsuki, they've come for Gaara," Baki replied slowly with each breath he struggled to get. Kankurou was about to run off and help Gaara when Baki stopped him, "No, don't do anything stupid, have faith in our Kazekage."

Kankurou made a gunt and gritted his teeth.

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Hashi was still dodging sand when it finally wrapped around his leg. Right before Gaara used his **Sabaku SouSou** _**(Desert Graveyard)**_, Hashi flashed through hand seals, once the sand crushed his leg, Hashi turned into another log. Gaara actually gritted his teeth out of frustration that he could not kill this traitor. As Hashi was hiding he took a good look around the village and began remembering the day he decided to leave the village.

**Flashback: Two and a Half Years Ago:**

_A team of four ANBU of Suna _(Sand)_ rushed through the desert to return home. They were angry, they had just learned that the Yondaime Kazekage _(4th Wind Shadow) _was cutting back on the ANBU program to save money._

"_I don't want to be a regular Jounin, damn it!" yelled one of the ANBU, "What do you think Hashi?"_

_The sixteen year old ANBU captain spoke, "It's bullshit!" _'We're near the village and I can't leave with these idiots with me, I'll have to kill them.'

_The ANBU team stopped when Hashi stopped. One of them finally asked the question that the others seemingly not wanted to ask._

"_Why'd we stop, Hashi-teichou _(captain)_?"_

_Hashi turned his head to the side, they did no see his facial expression under his mask, but they knew it by the way he spoke as he took out his ANBU katana._

"_I'm sorry, but this is the way it has to be," he said and dashed quickly at his squad, swinging around is katana, killing the squad all within a minute._

_After it was all over, Hashi stood over his team. All the bodies lying on the ground, blood had splattered the area around the bodies. Blood had splattered on Hashi's ANBU armor. Hashi turned his head, he saw a sand Jounin heading out on a solo mission, he had witnessed the ANBU member slaughtering his own team. The Jounin tried to run away, but Hashi quickly caught up with him and killed him. That's when Hashi desided something, using an unknown jutsu, he disquised the Jounin as himself, to look as if he were dead as well._

_Hashi dragged the body to the other group of bodies and placed him right out in front of his team. "That should do it, Suna will be dumb enough to think I am dead, it should keep the Hunter-nins off my trail altogether," he said to himself. Hashi took one last look at his 'handy work' and took off to an unknown destination._

**End of Flashback.**

"This is it, the final step in retrieving our target."

Hashi jumped out of hiding, causing Gaara to quickly get on his guard. Hashi took out a few kunai and threw them, aiming for the hole on Gaara's defense. Gaara added more sand to cover up the hole. The kunai stopped short and pierced the sand but stayed there.

"He fell for it," Hashi said and did on hand seal. A few seconds later, a massive explosion ripped through the ball of sand. The sand fell along with Gaara's unconscious body. Baki and Kankuro saw the whole thing.

"Gaara!" yelled Kankurou and quickly ran to try to catch his brother's falling body. However, Hashi beat him to it. He quickly scooped up Gaara's unconscious body and dashed off toward the village's gate. Kankurou quickly went after him. Kankurou chased Hashi through the village but he could not catch up to the ex-Suna ANBU member. Hashi ran across the huge wall and started hoppig down the guard posts on the other side with Kankurou still in pursuit.

"Bring Gaara back!" yelled Kankurou.

Hashi finally landed on the sand and started to run, unfortunately the sand slowed him down a bit while Kankurou was used to it and soong caught up to Hashi. He turned around and was ready to fight Kankurou. He didn't look like he knew Hashi, so Hashi was in relief but then again he could be wrong. Before the fight could break out, the other Akatsuki member stepped in front of the two.

"Hashi, take Gaara to the rally point, I'll take care of this for you," replied the young Akatsuki.

"Are you sure?" asked Hashi.

"Yes!" yelled the younger male, "Now go!"

Hashi nodded and quickly darted off. Kankurou was about to follow only for the other Akatsuki member to get in his way.

"I'm your opponent as of now," said the Akatsuki member, "If you defeat me, then you may continue your chase."

Kankurou gritted his teeth then spoke, "Very well then, I'll defeat you quickly!"

Suddenly a large gust of wind blew hard, blowing the Akatsuki member's straw hat clear off his head. It revealed wild blonde hair and very blue eyes. Kankurou's eyes widened in shock, he could not believe who was staning right in front of him, blocking his path to retrieve his brother. After a few minutes, he spoke.

"Y-you're that runt, impossible, why?!"

The blonde spoke, "I'm sorry Kankurou but this is the way it has to be."

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**Hoped you enjoyed the first chapter.**

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	2. The Puppet Master

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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**2. The Puppet Master**

Running footsteps through the hall could be heard. Passing people left and right entering a room full of birds, the sand ninja ran up to another ninja tending to the birds.

"Hmm, what is it?" asked the ninja tending to the birds.

"Get our fastest carrier and send it to Konoha immediately!" the frantic messenger said.

"Right away," the other ninja said running to a nearby cage and taking out the bird. He grabbed the scroll the frantic messenger was carrying and placed it into a small scroll holder attached to the bird's leg. He slowly walked to the open windowed that allowed the birds to fly in and out of the tower. He stretched his arm out and the bird quickly began flying in the direction of Konoha.

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"I can't believe you would do this," Kankurou said, upset.

"It really wasn't my intentions," replied the blonde Akatsuki member.

"That's a lie!" yelled Kankurou, "Look at you! You're a member of the Akatsuki now!"

The blonde looked down for a moment and looked back up, "Oh well," he said again.

Kankuro grabbed the three large scrolls that he was carrying on his back and rolled them out of the floor. Each one had a Kanji for it's name. The black one was named Kuroari _(Black Ant)_, the blue one was named Sanshouuo _(Salamander)_, and the green one was named Karasu _(Crow)_. Kankuro did a hand seal and a cloud of smoke came from the scrolls and he quickly attached chakra strings to his puppets and got ready for battle. The blonde just sighed and was prepared.

"I guess there's no point in just standing here and talking," the blonde said as he waited.

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A nice warm day with a light breeze in the air was apparent in a village not to ar away. Trees as green as could be. People walking through the streets talking amongst themselves, this place was known Konohagakure _(Hidden Leaf)_, a peaceful village in the Land of Fire. Standing in the street near the Hokage Tower was two Konoha ninja. One male with auburn hair and eyes, the other a female with pink hair and green eyes, the two were standing, they looked tired as if they were waiting forever. Finally a Jounin with silver hair with his forehead protector covering his left eye appeared.

"You're late, Kakashi-sensei!" yelled the pink-haired Kunoichi.

"Sorry about that," Kakashi replied, "I was filling out of paper work."

"Hmm," was all the auburn-haired ninja replied with.

The three were about to walk to the Hokage's tower when Kakashi noticed a bird flying from the direction of Sunagakure _(Hidden Sand)_. The bird entered Konoha's bird cage tower with a man sitting on a round chair, looking bored when he saw the bird land.

The man walked up to the bird and realized who it was, "Takamaru, why'd Suna send him for?" He then turned and yelled "I need the code team now!"

A woman with brown hair wearing a blue long sleeve shirt ran into the room and began decoding the message Takamaru had brought them.

"Oh my God," the woman said as she finished decoding the message. She bolted out of the room without another word.

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"Are you sure we should be doing that?" calmly asked the auburn-haired ninja.

"But Sasuke-kun, we just got back together as a team from training, we should start small," the girl replied.

"Sakura's right, we're all a little tired," Kakashi added.

The blonde-haired man in front of them was about to speak when the decoder ran into the mission reception room.

"Yondaime-sama _(Lord 4__th__)_!" yelled the decoder.

"Huh? What is it?" the Hokage said smiling at the woman.

"It's bad, the Kazekage, he was abducted by the Akatsuki!" she said franticly.

'_I see, so he's at it already,'_ thought the Hokage. "Well Kakashi, it looks like you're up for this one."

"Hai, Minato-sensei," replied Kakashi.

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Kankurou's puppets began attacking the blonde Akatsuki member. He quickly jumped out of the way of each one. What Kankurou didn't notice, the blonde had placed exploding tags on each of the puppets. It was so slick, no one would have noticed. One puppet attacked the blonde, he grabbed it. In the midst of battle, the blonde made a **Kage Bunshin** _**(Shadow Clone)**_ and both pushed the puppet back at Kankurou. Of course, Kankurou quickly got control of his puppet again and attacked with all three once again.

'_Okay, I'll have to end this quickly so I can catch up to Hashi,'_ the blonde thought.

The blonde charged at Kankurou. Kankurou countered with his puppets and the blonde just jumped over them and behind Kankurou. He was about to punch him in the back when Kankurou quickly countered with one of his puppets. On Kankurou's back was a seal the blonde had placed before getting knocked away by Kankurou's puppet.

'_It's time,'_ the blonde thought, "Well it's come down to this, Kankurou."

"What the hell are you talking about you traitor!" yelled Kankurou.

The blonde didn't make any facial expressions when he was called that. He quickly made a seal and the explosive tags he placed on Kankurou's puppets without his knowledge blew up, blowing them to pieces.

"What the…how?" Kankurou asked not believing what just happened.

'_Well it looks like I can still use some of the Karasu._ (Crow)_'_ Kankurou thought as he brought up both the arms and head out of the rubble. They all contained sharp blades at the end and were dipped in poison. Kankurou launched them at the blonde who quickly went through a seal and literally vanished out of sight and appear right behind Kankurou.

"What was that bright light?" he aksed, shocked and then a voice from behind brought Kankurou out of his thoughts.

"This is the way it has to be," the blonde said once again and had a spiraling charka in the palm of his hand, "Rasengan!" he yelled and slammed his hand full of charka into Kankurou's back. He yelled out in pain and flew a few feet ahead and landed in the sand due the force of the blow. Kankurou struggled to get up but finally gave up. It felt like something just ripped through his insides as he coughed up a little blood. After a few minutes of lying on the ground, he tried to get up again. Kankurou was determined to get up and go after his brother, injured or not. The blonde Akatsuki member started walking toward Kankurou and kneeled down so that Kankurou could hear him.

"Gaara will return," whispered the blonde and quickly got up and darted off in the direction Hashi disappeared to with Gaara.

'_Gaara will return?'_ Kankurou questioned in his mind, _'What does…?"_ he tried to analyze what the blonde had just said but couldn't finish as he drifted into unconsciousness.

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Loud thuds echoed through the forest as three ninja leapt from tree to tree. These three were Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura. Not too long ago they had left Konoha for Suna. Sakura then noticed a woman walking slowly along the ground path with dirty blonde hair tied into four pig tails and wearing a black robe with a closed fan on her back, it was none other than Temari.

"Temari-san!" yelled Sakura from the trees. Temari turned around and looked up and saw the three ninja jumping from the trees and landed on the ground by her. This had her worried since the incident earlier.

**Flashback:**

_Temari was sitting in a little café on the side of the road, resting as she was making her trip back to Sunagakure. She looked down at her cup and was reaching for it slowly, it began to crack. Temari hesitantly picked up and it broke apart._

"_I don't like the look of this," she said to herself_

**End of Flashback.**

Hashi was sitting on the sand with Gaara's body next to him, waiting. Finally in the distanse a figured appeared and Hashi quickly got up, ready to fight anyone if his partner had failed in keeping away the Suna Jounin. Hashi finally relaxed when he finally saw the black cloak and the blonde hair, this partner had defeated the Suna-nin.

"About time," said Hashi as if he was being impatient.

"Sorry, walking in this sand is not my forte, besides we got your target," replied the blonde.

"What's this 'we'?" asked Hashi, "You didn't do anything to capture him."

"Well, wasn't stepping in and fighting that one Suna-nin that was chasing you when you left Suna enough to say 'we'?" asked the blonde.

Hashi just grunted and began walking, "Well we need to reach the hideout, so let's go."

The blonde nodded and started walking, trailing Hashi. Hashi turned around to speak again. "What's your target anyway?"

"I don't know," replied the blonde and the two began walking in the direction they needed to go once again.

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"This is bad," said Baki.

"None of our medics can heal this much damage," replied another Suna-nin.

"If this would isn't treated soon, he'll die," said another.

'_First me, then take Gaara. Who are these Akatsuki ninja?'_ thought Baki. "We just got word Konoha is sending a team, hopefully they'll have a ninja that can heal this much damage."

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Temari looked between the three ninja, just wondering why they stopped her, of all people. It looked like they're just going on a mission.

"Temari-san?" Kakashi started.

"What is it?" asked Temari.

"We just got word from Suna that Gaara was taken by the Akatsuki," Kakashi answered.

"What?" Temari said in shock then looked down, "I had a bad feeling all along."

"Well, we need to get going," Kakashi stepped in, "It takes three days to get to Suna."

Temari nodded and all four ninja jumped back into the trees to hightail it to Suna. Sasuke was clenching his fists, it reminded him of when his brother showed up.

"_This doesn't concern you, foolish ototo _(Little Brother)_, I just came here to ask Naruto-kun a question." the older male that had remarkably resembled Sasuke_ _as Sasuke remembred the words from his older brother that day he showed up._

'_So you and shark-face friend are at it again,'_ Sasuke said in his head, _'This time I'll kill you for sure!'_ And Sasuke began to get ahead of the others as he was practically running through the trees.

"Sasuke, you need to slow down a bit!" yelled Kakashi so Sasuke could hear.

"Slow down? Slow down? My brother could be involved with this and I intend to kill him this time around!" yelled back Sasuke.

"No!" yelled Kakashi again, "You're not ready for that just yet. If Itachi is involved with this, do not engage him, understood?"

Sasuke replied with a loud growl and gritted his teeth, he didn't care what Kakashi said because no matter what, no one was going to stop him from killing his brother if they did find him.

'_I really hope Itachi is not involved with this one, I don't think I'll be able to keep Sasuke from trying to kill him,' Kakashi prayed._

_The four ninja continued to leap from tree to tree with Sasuke out front out of formation going as fast as he can. There was no convincing him to slow down, he was convinced that if Itachi was behind Gaara's abduction, then he was going to engage and kill him._

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**Another chapter down.**

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	3. Allies of Suna: The Konoha Ninja Arrive!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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**3. Allies of Suna: The Konoha Ninja Arrive!**

Minato was sitting at his desk looking through the day's paperwork. Sorting through mission requests and payment logs, all in all, it was sort of stressful. The one part of the job any normal person would hate more than anything else in the world, but it didn't seem to bother this particular Hokage one bit. He then reached for the small clay cup he had on the desk and it cracked. He stopped reaching for it as a bad feeling swept over him and a chill went down his spine. Sighing, he got up from his paperwork and walked out of his office. He walked out his office to see an older man with white hair standing just outside his office.

"Jiraiya-sensei?" he asked, shocked to see him.

"Hey there, Minato, we need to talk," the white-haired Sannin said and the two walked into his office.

About twenty minutes later, Jiraiya walked out of the Hokage's office with a disappointed look on his face and continued out of the tower in silence.

"Aki," Minato called to his assistant.

"Hai _(yes)_, Hokage-sama?" she asked, walking into his office.

"I want to send reinforcements team on the same mission as Kakashi's team, are Gai's team back yet?" asked the Hokage.

"No, but they should be soon," replied Aki.

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Sand everywhere the eye could see as well as four Shinobi running across it like some kind of marathon. Soon it was in their vision, the gates of Sunakagure. Immediately they notice several Suna Shinobi waiting outside the village. One of the ninja ran out to meet up with them.

"Temari-san!" said the Suna-nin, "And you must be the team Konoha sent for us, correct?" Kakashi noded, "Come with us, we've been waiting."

Temari looked shocked while the three Konoha-nins all nodded in acknowledgement and followed the Suna-nin inside the village. Inside the village the Suna-nin had just informed them what had happened and how they tried to step in but failed.

"In the end, Gaara was abducted," said the Suna-nin. "Kankurou then chased the Akatsuki member out of the village and engaged in combat with him. Unfortunately, he failed and was wounded, none of our medic-nin can heal the damage that was caused"

Temari was in total shock and nearly screamed, "What? They got Kankurou too?!"

"Unfortunately yes, his injuries are very serious and he could die if not treated soon. It was as if something ripped through his insides," the ninja explained.

That explanation then caught Kakashi's attention, _'Could it be?'_

Sasuke clenched his fists, ready to go after Itachi while Temari looked to the ground for the second, "Kuso _(shit)_!" she said and was about to take off.

"Wait Temari-san!" said Sakura, "I might be able to heal him."

Temari nodded and all five ninja ran to Suna's infirmary. Once they got there they ran through the hospital and found the room they had Kankurou in. They burst through the door, they found several medic-nins and Baki standing all around half unconscious Kankurou. Sakura quickly walked up to Kankurou and examined his injury to his back. He could see chakra burns in the form of a spiral on him. Sakura focused chakra into her hands and examined Kankurou. Sure enough there was extensive damage.

"It was caused by some sort of wind jutsu, it caused extensive damage to his muscles in his back, and as far as to this back side of stomach," Sakura said giving her full analysis.

Kakashi walked up to Kankurou to see the chakra burns on his back, _'That looks like damage from _his _jutsu, it can't be!'_

Sakura then went through a few hand seals and gathered a brighter green chakra to her hands and placed them on the injury Kankurou had received from fighting that blonde Akatsuki member. She kept her hands on the injury for twenty minutes, sweat starting to fall down her face as she heavily concentrated on healing the major wound. Another ten minutes went by before she stopped and sighed heavily, she turned to Temari and smiled.

"Kankurou-san should be fine now, all his injuries are healed now," the pink-haired medic said and Temari slid down the wall she was leaning against for the last thirty minutes.

"Whew. Where'd you learn to do that?" she then asked.

"I trained under Tsunade-shishou for the last two and half years," replied Sakura.

"We need to hurry and get those Akatsuki members," Sasuke said who was becoming impatient.

* * *

"You four, I'm sending you to Sunagakure _(Hidden Sand)_ to help out Kakashi's team," said the Hokage.

"Yeah," said a tall dark-haired ninja shaped into a bowl, wearing a tight green jumpsuit, a Jounin vest then turned to his team. "Okay everyone, let's get to Suna in one day!"

Another ninja that looked exactly like a younger version of the Jounin only wearing a Chuunin vest turned to the counter, "How about half a day!"

One male with long brown hair, pupil-less milk whit eyes wearing white robes spoke turning to the brown-haired Kunoichi with two buns in her hair, "No matter what, it will still take three days to get to Suna."

"Would you two shut up!" yelled the brown-haired Kunoichi.

* * *

Sasuke was pacing back and fourth, eager to get their second part of the mission started. He was growing more impatient by the minute. _'Itachi is getting further and further away each passing minute, we need to hurry so we can find him that way I can kill him!'_ he nearly shouted in his mind.

"Calm down Sasuke," Kakashi said, bringing Sasuke out of his thoughts. "We can't go rushing into this. I know you want to get Itachi but I already told you, if he is behind this, don't engage him."

Sasuke made a grunt and gritted his teeth, then Kakashi turned to Baki.

"Was there anyone else trailing those Akatsuki members?" he asked.

"Kankurou was the only one chasing that one that captured Gaara, that's how he ended up getting injured like that," Baki replied. "There wasn't anyone else."

Kakashi sighed, "So we lost all trace of them then."

Baki nodded then all turned their attention to Kankurou who made a grunt and slowly sat up on his bed. Kakashi, however, didn't waste any time and started asking questions.

"Kankurou-kun, can you tell me where you fought those members from the Akatsuki?" he asked, "I can track exceptionally well, I just need a small sent."

Kankurou realized who it was, "No need, there were two of them, one of them has Gaara, follow his sent. The one I fought was one I could not believe would be part of that organization."

Kakashi's eyebrow rose, "And who would that be?"

"Naruto," Kankurou replied. Kakashi and Sasuke's eyes widened as Sakura let out a shocking gasp. She didn't want to believe that Naruto would have stooped as low as to joining the Akatsuki. Sasuke's hands clenched tightly as the memory of _that_ day slowly crept into his mind.

**Flashback:**

"_This has every concern with me!" yelled Sasuke as he went through seals and lightning chakra filled h is hand._

"_**Chidori**__," Itachi said as if he was unimpressed and uninterested. Sasuke charged through the hallway at Itachi. One he reached Itachi, Itachi simply batted Sasuke's hand with the __**Chidori**__ activated aside as if it was no big deal and grabbed his arm, twisting it until it broke. Sasuke yelled out in pain. Naruto was standing there, in disbelief but he knew he couldn't do anything._

"_Sasuke!" he yelled._

"_You're a pest," Itachi said and kicked Sasuke into the wall on the other side of the hallway. He turned around and focused his attention back to Naruto. Sasuke was desperately trying to keep his consciousness and heard the question._

"_Naruto-kun, the Akatsuki want your ability. I'm asking you to join us," Itachi said._

_That was the last thing Sasuke heard before slipping into unconsciousness._

**End of flashback.**

Sasuke clenched his fists once again, _'So in the end, you took up that offer, you dobe (dumbass)!'_

Temari was quickly at Kankurou's side, "Kankurou, are you okay?"

"Yeah, still huts a bit, but I'm fine," the sibling replied. _'Namikaze Naruto, why'd you betray Konoha? Better yet, why did you betray your friendship you had bestowed in Gaara?'_

"Are you positive it was Naruto you fought?" asked Kakashi. Kankurou side glanced at Kakashi and spoke.

"I am positive it was Naruto."

Kakashi sighed, _'Naruto, is the Akatsuki truly where you went after you left the village?'_

"Who was the other Akatsuki member?" asked Sasuke. Kankurou stayed silent for a while until Baki finally decided to answer before him.

"The one that abducted Gaara was one of our own, an ex-ANBU captain, Kousa Hashi," the Suna Jounin replied. "He was believed to be dead as we found his body along with his team two and half years ago, but apparently we were wrong and too naïve to have seen it."

While Baki was explaining, Kankurou was staring at his hand before clenching it into fists as the words of Gaara popped into his head.

"_To work hard and make your own path, that is the only way. Without running away to a lonely isolation…If I do that, then sometime…I'll be just like him."_

Soon words from before Gaara had his life changing fight with Naruto seeped into Kankurou's mind.

"_I have never though of you as siblings, if you obstruct me, I'll kill you."_

Then the memory of the talk with Gaara on the cliff overlooking the Land of Wind returned to Kankurou's mind.

"_Connection with other people, up until now, from me that was nothing but hatred and the intent to kill, and now, even I understand something, suffering, sadness and joy, they can all b e shared by someone else. Namikaze Naruto, from fighting and interacting with him, this is what I feel he thought me. He may not have the same life, but he understood me like no one else could and so he taught me that I could change the way I live."_

Kankurou looked down at the floor at the foot of the bed he was in, _'Namikaze Naruto, why did you betray my brother like that?'_

* * *

Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakua were walking through the village toward the exit along with Baki as they were about to begin their mission to locate the two Akatsuki members that had abducted Gaara when they were stopped by Temari.

"I'm going with you!" she demanded.

"Temari-san, you must stay here," said Baki. "I'm going, so if they retrieve Gaara, I'll be the one to bring him back."

"But Baki, he's my brother!" yelled Temari.

"It's better if you stay here Temari-san, besides, I was his sensei too," replied Baki.

"Fine," Temari nearly spat.

"Should we get going then?" asked Kakashi. The three nodded and proceeded to leave the village in search of Gaara.

* * *

A steady breeze blew through the valley as two figures approached a blocked off cave. The two black-cloaked males touched the seal that was planted on the rock and it began to lift up. Once the rock was up enough from the hole, the two walked inside the cave. The cave was dark and only could see a large statue with nine eyes and two hands stretched out. Soon a figure appeared immediately on one of the fingers. His apparence was just a silhouette, but his orange eyes with two black rings inside them were visible.

"I see you managed to be successful after all, so you two are now full Akatsuki members," the silhouette said, "However, you're late so prepare it immediately."

"Sorry about that Leader-sama, the Jinchuuriki gave me a hell of a fight, not to mention Naruto fighting a Suna-nin," replied Hashi. The two Akatsuki members placed Gaara before the large statue with nine eyes that represented where the Bijuu's would be sealed into. Finally the two were down and the silhouette of their leader spoke again.

"Assemble," he said and did a seal. Movement could be heard within the darkened cave as all the members of the Akatsuki picked a finger to stand upon. After a few moments of getting prepared, they were now ready to perform what they all had assembled for.

"Now, let us begin," their leader spoke again.

* * *

**Second chapter today, well enjoy it.**


	4. It Begins: The Extraction of Gaara!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

**

**4. It Begins: The Extraction of Gaara!**

Gaara's defeated body laid before the large statue with a member of the Akatsuki on one of the fingers. A few grunts escaped his lips but were quickly drowned out by load roars coming from the statue. Most of the Akatsuki were there by hologram, while the only two actually there were Hashi and Naruto. Preparations had finally finished and one of the holograms spoke.

"From here on," he began, "It will take three days and three nights and please pay attention to your real bodies as well."

There was a silence until the member spoke again, "Zetsu, use your real body as lookout and use your longest range."

"I know," said the member with glowing eyes, half of his face white and the other black and he looked like a walking Venus Fly-Trap.

"Three days huh?" asked another, "Since we don't have Orochimaru, I wonder if we should allow for a bit more time?"

"Well, if that's how you feel," spoke their leader, "Then start already!"

After the outburst, all the members did their appropriate hand seal. Soon the fingers of the large statue started to glow blue and Kanji's appeared. _(Rei, Sei, Haku, Shu, Kai, Nan, Hoku, San, Gyoku)_. A blue ball formed just about the mouth of the statue and grew bigger by every passing second. Finally, it was ready.

"Fuuin no Jutsu: Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin! _**(Sealing Jutsu: Illusionary Dragon Complete Seal of Nine)**_" said their leader. And out of the blue ball that had from, what looked like nine dragons came out of it and aimed at Gaara. Now the extraction of the Jinchuuriki had begun.

* * *

"Hey!" yelled a voice from within the trees, "You're going too fast, damn it!"

Leaping from tree to tree was Gai's team. As Gai and Lee continued on, Tenten was getting tired but with Neji, you can't really tell.

"We've been going non-stop," complained the team's Kunoichi, "Let's take a break!"

Lee turned his head towards the girl, "You lack discipline, Tenten."

A brown pug-like dog wearing Konoha forehead protector and a blue cape was waiting on a branch in front of their path.

"Gai, wait!" it spoke. Gai immediately recognized the dog.

"Pakkun."

For the next ten minutes or so, Pakkun explained the situation to Gai's tem and what they were doing now.

"Kakashi ordered all eight of us dogs to split up and search for the scent of those Akatsuki members," Pakkun explained, "And we've discovered they went to River Country, between Suna and Konoha."

Gai listened intently as did his team and Pakkun continued, "Your team is closest, that's why we came here."

"I see," Lee injected.

"Follow me, there's something else I want to tell you while we run," said Pakkun.

"Great!" yelled the overly enthusiastic Gai, "Let's go!"

As Gai's team continued on toward River Country, in a nearby tree, Zetsu came out of it. He did not speak, but he had heard the team talking. His pupiless glowing eyes then started to dilate and something of a pupil appeared. Zetsu had did something with his eye.

* * *

The nine dragons that had been released from the satute had now turned into a massive blue ball that completely surrounded Gaara. The Bijuu that was locked inside Gaara was being slowly extracted out through Gaara's eyes and mouth. Then through the silence, Zetsu's voice broke through.

"An enemy from Konoha is approaching," he explained, "His name is Maito Gai and appears very skilled."

There was silence for a while then one of the members spoke up, "Who the hell is that?"

Then one of the voices, known as Itachi, spoke, "He's a Jounin from Konoha that uses Taijutsu, he's quite talented so take care not to underestimate him."

A deeper voice replied, "Ah, that bizarre beast, eh?"

There was silence for a bit then another voice spoke, "I'll use that Jutsu."

"Let me go instead," replied another voice, "I've had a hard time finding my Jinchuuriki and I've been getting irritated."

"No, I will go," said the deeper voice, "I have a vendetta against that man."

"Indeed, after all, that jutsu is suitable for you as you have a large amount of chakra, Kisame," spoke the leader. "However, I still need to have thirty percent of your chakra."

Kisame made a 'tch' sound from his mouth and then another voice spoke, "Oh well, finally."

Sitting on a rock in the open was a man with little eyes, what looked like gills on his cheeds and his skin was a grayish-blue color and had teeth pointed like a shark's. He wore the normal Akatsuki cloak and his forehead protector displaying the Kiri symbol had a large and fine scratch through the middle. He smirked.

"It seems I get my revenge after that kick he gave me," he said.

Sitting next to him was another member of the Akatsuki, with long auburn hair with some of it tied into a ponytail at the back and was wearing his Konoha forehead protector with the same long, fine scratch through the middle. Both had their eyes closed, sitting and making a hand seal.

* * *

Now team Gai was running quickly on the ground as it seems they finally left the forests of Fire Country. They ran a bit before Pakkun started sniffing, he picked up a scent. Gai noticed what Pakkun was doing.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Someone's coming!" yelled back Pakkun.

Neji stared out as veins popped out from both sides of his head and a slight pupil appeared in his milk-white eyes, "Byakugan!"

Neji looked all around and finally spotted someone from behind, "Behind us!" he yelled to his team. They all stopped for a moment, then the ground started rumbling as if something were moving through the ground. After a few feet, something visible came out of the ground, a tip of something that was bandaged up. It got closer and the object in the ground came out more and more. It looked like a tip of a large sword. Team Gai were patiently waiting to make a move if need be. Suddenly there was a large explosion from the ground, all of Team Gai jumped back to avoid the blast. The dirt that was kicked was slowly starting to fall back to the ground as a silhoutte of a person was starting to take form in the cloud of dust. Soon the dust cleared and standing before Team Gai was none other than Hoshigaki Kisame. Dirt clusters were falling from his sword as he stared at his new targes. Gai's eyes widened at who was standing before him.

"You're…" he began. Lee then turned to his sensei.

"Do you know him, Gai-sensei?" asked Lee. Gai didn't answer as he stared down his opponent whilst his team was staring at him questioningly. Kisame began to chuckle a bit.

"Well it seems like the intelligence of the Bizarre Beast is beast-level as well," Kisame said. "It doesn't matter, I'll make you remember soon enough anyway."

Neji activated his Byakugan and his eyes widened in shock, "This guy as an enormous amount of Chakra," he said. "I haven't seen this much chakra since fighting Naruto." Then he looked at Kisame, "So this is Akatsuki."

Kisame quickly let go of his sword and tossed it high into the air and quicky performed hand seals, "**Suiton: Bakusui Shouha** _**(Water Release: Explosive Water Shockwave)**_!" Kisame leaned back for a second. Gai's team waited for their next move and soon Kisame lunged forward opening his mouth as a massive amount of water escaped his mouth. A massive Tsunami of water quickly came rushing at Team Gai. It seemed as if Kisame was riding it as well and he quickly go into a stance for running.

"Here I go!" he yelled out. The water turned into a massive ball as Team Gai tried to jump out of the way as fast as they could. Soon Kisame appeared before Gai and raised his sword, he was about to slice Gai when Lee jumped in and kicked the sword out of his hand.

"**Konoha Shofuu** _**(Konoha Rising Wind)**_!" yelled Lee as he kicked Kisame's sword straight out of his hand. This completely caught Kisame by surprise.

"What?" he asked not wanting to believe just what happened. Neji landed nearby and turned around and got into his Hyuuga Stance.

"**Hakke Kuushou**!"

Kisame was quickly launched into the air. He had no idea just what the hell happened. He quickly grabbed his sword and stuck into the ground to slow down his fall. Once he stopped he quickly took his sword out to defend from a ball with large spikes all over it. Then Kisame noticed a piece of paper attached to it.

'_It's an exploding tag!'_

It exploded, causing spikes to go every which way, however, Kisame was no where to be found.

"Damn it, he got away," said Tenten mainly to herself.

Kisame swam up from under the water to the surface and sighed, "These damn kids are a pain."

Gai finally realized who he was fighting, "Suiton Ninjutsu _(Water Element Ninja Techniques)_ and that huge sword, you must be…"

Kisame interrupted, "It appears you finally recognize who I am."

"I do get the feeling I've seen you before," said Gai. Kisame looked at Gai as if he was an idiot, surely he does remember nearly three years ago in Konoha, right? It would appear not so much. Kisame then sighed in frustration.

"You do know how to rub people the wrong way," said Kisame, "Allow me to slowly torment you to restore your memory."

* * *

The river was flowing elegantly down the bank, nothing to disturb it. Until a few thuds echoed from above a few leaves fell into the water. Four ninja were quickly running through the forest. The pink-haired kunzite turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, can I ask you something?"

Sasuke looked at her and nodded a bit.

"I know that your brother killed your entire family," Sakura started. Sasuke's eyes widened, how'd she find that out? But Sakura continued, "But why are you _really upset that you want to kill him so badly?"_

_Sasuke looked forward, "He's the reason Naruto is not with us."_

_Kakshi sighed, "A few years ago, two Akatsuki members came to Konoha seeking Naruto for his ability."_

"_What did they want Naruto so badly for?" asked Sakura._

"_I've heard stories when Naruto was eight years old, he protected a group of fox kits from Jounin and that these were kits of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, our village's ancient protector and as to show his gratitude, offered Naruto a summoning contract to summon him in times of need," Kakashi explained._

_Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widened in shock and then Sakura spoke up, "Do you really believe that, Kakashi-sensei?"_

"_I don't know," Kakashi replied._

_Then Baki decided to question, "I have a question, if the Akatsuki were around for a while and it seems their targets are Bijuu's, why did it take them so long to start looking for them?"_

"_I think it was because they couldn't right away, it took time," replied Kakashi._

_Sakura looked confused, "What's a Bijuu?"_

"_Bijuu, some are beasts and some are protectors, they all bear tails," Baki explained, "There's nine of them total."_

"_Where'd you get this information?" asked Kakashi._

"_Chiyo-baasama," Baki replied, "She was the one to seal the Ichibi in Gaara."_

_Their eyes widened, then Sasuke spoke, "Tell us more about these Bijuu's."_

"_Well, each Bijuu is distinctive by the number of tails it has. The number of tails is represented in the Bijuu's name," Baki continued with his explanation, "They all have an immense masses of chakra and in the Great Ninkai War, each country's hidden village wanted to use them, claiming the Bijuu as their own."_

_Sakura and Sasuke listened intensely to the conversation._

"_When that happened, the Bijuu's that were protectors, turned against the village they protected, that is why eight of them have been sealed away into human being," continued Baki. "They are all now very dangerous and I wouldn't know what the hell the Akatsuki would want with them."_

_The three ninja all looked ahead, afraid to say anything else and continued on their path._

_

* * *

_

Gaara's screams could be heard through the darkened cave as the Bijuu is still slowly being extracted through his eyes and mouth. The spirit energy traveled up the stream of blue into the statue's large mouth.

* * *

As the Konoha ninja as well as Baki continue through the forest, Zetsu once again merges from the ground and returned to the hologram body. In the dark cave, the voice of Zetus was head once again.

"More Konoha Shinobi are on the way."

"Who's going this time?" asked a voice.

* * *

Suddenly Kakashi stopped and yelled, "Everyone stop!"

A few yards ahead stood a figure, they only thing they could make out right away was the auburn hair and the Akatsuki cloak. Sasuke immediately realized who just was in front of him. His eyes turned angry and clenched his fists harder then any time before. Sakura just stood confused.

"Who's that?" she asked.

Kakashi just sighed, "Already?"

Finally Sasuke basically growled an answer to Sakura, "Itachi!"

"Sasuke, remember don't engage him yet!" Kakashi called out.

Sasuke was having none of it, he was going to kill his brother here and now and charged at Itachi full speed.

* * *

**To those who have reviewed so far, thank you. Hoped you enjoyed the chapter.**


	5. Konoha VS Akatsuki

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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**

**5. Konoha VS Akatsuki**

Sakura stared in disbelief and watched Sasuke as he charged at Itachi with Kakashi quickly going after him.

'_This man, this is Uchiha Itachi?'_ Sakura questioned with the depths of her mind.

"So this is the bastard that killed the entire Uchiha clan, eh?" said Baki aloud.

Before Itachi could land a blow on Sasuke who was blindly charging in, Kakashi quickly appeared in front of Sasuke and grabbed him.

"What were you thinking?!" scolded Kakashi.

"Let me go Kakashi, I have to kill him!" yelled Sasuke.

The elder Uchiha with his Sharingan active stared and shook his head a bit, "Sasuke, you're still a pest."

Sakura just stood there with Baki basically analyzing the elder Uchiha, pointing out the obvious in her mind when she saw his Sharingan.

'_He's the one that made Sasuke-kun suffer and from what Sasuke told me, manipulated Naruto into joining his retched organization.'_

"You bastard!" yelled Sasuke, "Today's the day I finally kill you!"

Itachi showed no emotion and closed his eyes, "I don't think you can."

Kakashi noticed Itachi moving his hand and quickly stood in front of everyone, "Don't look directly into his eyes, it's dangerous."

Baki and Sakura looked confused but Sasuke knew what Kakashi was thinking about. Itachi moved his hands to form a seal while Sakura looked over to Kakashi.

"What do we do?" she asked. Kakashi remembered the talk he had with Gai about when they had fought Itachi back in Konoha nearly three years ago.

"Judge his movements form his body and feet," Kakashi explained, "Itachi's Genjutsu is performed from his eyes. You'll be fine if you just avoid eye contact."

Sakura looked down and a bit back at Itachi then back down to his feet again, "That sounds kind of difficult."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and activated his Sharingan, no matter what, he was killing Itachi today.

"I never fought an Uchiha before," Baki spoke up, "But Genjutsu are easy to cancel out."

Kakashi then replied, "If that were the case then we'd be okay. However, Itachi uses a Doujutsu _(eye technique)_ that surpassed the Sharingan, the Mangekyou Sharingan. If you are stuck by that Doujutsu, the Genjutsu an effect you in an instant and there is no canceling the effect of it."

"Just who is he then?" asked Baki.

Itachi finally spoke after being silent the whole conversation, "Very well explained, Kakashi-san, that, after having been affected by my Tsukuyomi once."

"Yes, but after you used that technique, you became weary and retreated," Kakashi replied and remembered the conversation between Kisame and Itachi when they fought in Konoha.

"_Itachi-san, using that eye too much is dangerous, right?" asked Kisame._

"_We did not come here to start a war," began Itachi, "It's regretful, but anything more than this is nonsense, let's go."_

"Besides the fact that it requires a lot of chakra," Kakashi continued. "It's also a great risk to your eyes, am I correct Itachi?"

"That's very correct, Kakashi-san," replied the Uchiha, "Given that you fought me only once."

Kakashi began to lift up the part of his forehead protector that covered his left eye while talking to Itachi, "Itachi, how bad has your eye sight gotten?"

Itachi stared as Kakashi uncovered his left eye and opened it, revealing his Sharingan as well. Itachi then looked toward the ground only to close his eyes. Soon an out of character chuckle came from the Uchiha.

"Kakashi-san, you cannot defeat me, it's impossible," Itachi said turning to Sasuke as well, "And you ototo _(little brother)_, you're still too weak."

"Last time I was careless," replied the sliver-haired Jounin, "But this time, things aren't going the way the did last time." Kakashi turned to Sasuke, "You don't have to fight him alone, you know."

Sasuke looked around and sighed, "Fine, but I'm still the one to kill him."

"Sakura, Baki, we'll handle this," Kakashi called out to the two standing behind.

"No, I'll help too," protested Sakura. Kakashi sighed but nodded and the three got ready to do battle with the Uchiha slayer.

* * *

What looked like an ocean had flooded the entire area as Gai and Kisame continued to fight upon the surface of the water. Gai came in with a fast kick as Kisame tried to block it with his sword. Gai manged to get around and get on it, ready to strike a blow to Kisame. However, Kisame let go of the sword and jumped back to avoid any hits that might have been landed on the shark-like Akatsuki member.

"Now!" yelled Gai as his three teammates were about to jump Kisame from behind. Kisame turned around with a surprise look on his face as he saw the three ninja coming up from behind overhead. He made a noise and began peforming hand seals.

"**Mizu Bunshun no Jutsu **_**(Water Replication Technique)**_**!**" the shark said. Three areas of water rose and began forming into replications of Kisame. A few seconds later, three identical replications of Kisame had appeared. Neji, Lee and Tenten all struck respective replications as Gai jumped onto the water holding Kisame's sword. Right when Kisame knew he had the other three, he quickly went through hand seals.

"**Suriou no Jutsu **_**(Water Prison Technique)**_**!**" The three replications of Kisame turned around and encase Neji, Tenten and Lee into water bubbles.

"What?!" yelled Neji as the water from the replication imprisoned him.

Gai noticed. _'Damn it.'_ He was careless, he did not think about something like that could have happened. Gai grabbed Kisame's sword again and quicky charged at him jumping into the air ready to slice Kisame in half. Gai then winced in pain as sharp fins came out of the handle, piercing Gai's hand. He quickly let go of the sword and it fell to the ground while Gai landed nearby. Now the Suirou _(water prison)_ was completed and imprisoned Neji, Lee and Tenten as the three replications held them all.

'_I can't breathe,'_ Tenten mentally state. Neji knew Tenten was suffocating within her prison.

'_Shit!'_ he yelled within his mind.

Lee tried to move but he couldn't, _'I can't more at all.'_

Gai watched helplessly at his team trapped like rats, "Neji! Lee! Tenten!"

Kisame laughed a bit then spoke, "These brats were more skilled than I give them credit for. It was more of a surprise for me."

Gai just stared at Kisame with an angry look, ready to attack Kisame any moment.

"But now," continued Kisame, "We can continue this without interference."

Gai stood there facing Kisame who was kneeling on the water with his three replications behind him holding the water prisons. The sword that fell into the water quickly rose to the surface and returned to the hands of Kisame.

"This sword, Samehada _(shark skin)_," Kisame began, "It will not accept anyone but me."

Gai then quickly went through his backpack and pulled out num chucks. The three watched as Gai spinned them and stopped holding each side of his weapon. Kisame got ready to charge.

"Now then, we shall begin!" he yelled as Gai quickly charged at Kisame.

* * *

Itachi stared down his opponents and looked at Sasuke, "You have no hope in beating me, ototo _(younger brother)_."

"I'll attack first," replied Kakashi as he ran off toward Itachi. Kakashi quickly appeared in front of Itachi and threw a punch at his face only for Itachi to quickly block it. He looked to the side to notice the real Itachi was running toward Sasuke, Sakura and Baki.

'_A __**Kage Bunshin (shadow replication)**__!'_ he mentally noted.

Sasuke quickly looked behind him to find Sakura and Baki on the ground as if they where hit by an attack of some sort.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Sasuke to no one.

Then the two figures of Sakura and Baki turned into two Itachi's and Sasuke stared down the three Itachi's.

* * *

The water exploded and went high into the air with Gai and Kisame both on top of the water geyser. Gai held his weapon in front of his face while Kisame's sword was rubbing agains the chain that held the two handles together.

'_His strength is monstrous,'_ retorted Gai.

Kisame then brought his free hand down hard onto Gai which made him cough up blood as he went sailing through the deep waters like a torpedo and Lee's eyes widened in shock at what he had just witnessed.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee yelled within his water prison.

Kisame landed back on the surface of the water and performed a few hand seals, "Oh please, I haven't returned the favor yet. **Water Relase: Water Shark Technique!**" and five sharks made of water formed inside the water as Gai swam around underneath. One of the sharks attacked Gai, he swam to avoid it and hit it. It fell apart in the water only to reform into a shark gain. Kisame began to laugh.

"It's no use," he explained even though Gai could not hear him below the surface of the water. "While sharks are in the water, they cannot be destroyed."

The sharks continued their onslaught underwater as Gai desperately tried to avoid them. Finally it was time for Gai to counter and began to glow green as his eyes turned white and started to release the gates within his body finally he came to the sixth gate.

"**Hachimon Tonkou! Dairoku Keimon **_**(Eight Gates: The Sixth Gate, View Gate)**_ Kai _(release)_!" he yelled. The energy Gai was giving off completely tore the sharks apart as he quickly swam back up to the surface. Soon there was a massive hole in the water and Kisame was acing Gai standing on solid ground. The power that Gai was giving off was immense as the ground beneath him started to crumble away and clumps of dirt and earth began to fly in all directions. While that was going on, Neji used his Byakugan and immersed chakra out of his body, managing to somehow get free from the water prison. Meanwhile, Gai charged at Kisame at a faster speed than before which really caught him off guard as Neji took out the water replications freeing Tenten and Lee.

"Thanks, Neji," said the kunoichi.

"Thanks," said Lee. Lee noticed that Gai was in the air along with Kisame in some sort of pose, "That stance…"

Gai was in the air in front of Kisame with his arms stretched out like if they were wings and had his right leg bent with his left fully pointed down. Kisame saw an attack coming and prepared to block it with his sword as Gai came in with a fast kick that looked to be very powerful.

'_Fast,'_ thought Kisame as he watched the leg, however the blow never came as pain took over his jaw area. Gai tricked Kisame and landed a powerful uppercut to Kisame.

Tenten and Neji looked on. "That's…"

"Yeah," Neji replied, knowing full well what she was about to say. Lee looked proud of his sensei as he watched him.

"Game over," he said.

"**Asa Kujaku **_**(morning peacock)**_**!**" yelled Gai.

A series of very fast, and flaming punches made an onslaught on Kisame. The massive blow sent Kisame roaring to the ground at a high speed. The landing was hard and Gai knew it. Kisame was finally defeated and the sea that Kisame had created when the fight had started quickly evaporated. Soon the water was completely gone and Team Gai walked over to where Kisame had landed after the last attack Gai had launched on the unsuspecting Akatsuki member.

Gai's eyes widened, "This guy, he's…"

* * *

Sasuke was still standing with the two Itachi's surrounding him. He noticed Kakashi as he was getting up, but he turned into another Itachi. Sasuke gritted his teeth and pulled out two kunai from his pouch.

"I'll kill you!" he yelled and quickly tied to take out the three Itachi's. He struck a blow to all three and they all turned to birds. As they all flew upwards, Sasuke knew exactly what was going on, he was trapped in a Genjutsu and Sasuke quickly activated his Sharingan to neutralize the Genjutsu.

"I see, you've figured out that it was Genjutsu after all," said the real Itachi who was standing in front of him. Sakura and Baki were standing behind him as well as Kakashi who had just disposed of the **Kage Bunshin **_**(shadow replication)**_ of Itachi.

"Like you could trap me in a mere Genjutsu!" yelled Sasuke.

"I guess there's no beating around the bush," Itachi calmly replied.

Sasuke charged at Itachi with kunai in head, ready to strike a blow. The same thing happened back when Sasuke tried to kill Itachi when he had come to ask Naruto that question of joining the Akatsuki. Itachi simply deflected his hand and kicked him hard in the gut and Sasuke flew but Sakura managed to catch him and Kakashi took up his position in front of the three ninja.

"You okay, Sasuke?" asked Kakashi. Sasuke grunted but that meant he was okay. "You need to control your anger, running in blind like that is only going to get you killed in the end."

"You should listen to Kakashi-san, ototo _(little brother)_, because it seems to me you're still not strong enough," replied Itachi.

"Alright, this is the final battle," stated Kakashi, "Sasuke, calm down, clear your head and let's do this!"

Sasuke replied, "Alright." He closed his eyes and thought of things that could calm him. He remembered his younger days when he and Naruto hung out. Sure they made fun of each other all the time, and damn near too competitive with each other, they were still best friends. Finally after a few minutes of calming down, it was time to focus and clear his mind of all thoughts about anything else. It worked, he was calm and collected now and opened his eyes and smirk come to his face.

"Alright, I'm ready."

Kakashi was about to get ready to attack Itachi when he beat Kakashi to the punch by peforming hand seals.

"**Katon: Goukyakyuu no Jutsu **_**(Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)**_!" yelled Itachi as a massive ball of fire came out of Itachi's mouth. It reached where the Konoha ninja along with Baki were standing. A massive explosion occurred and smoke could be seen in the air for miles. Once the smoke cleared, Itachi stood surprised when no one was around. Sasuke had fled to the forest to the side of Itachi and waited for the right moment to move.

'_I see it now, not bad Kakashi.'_

Kakashi came out of the ground and landed an uppercut to Itachi, while in the air, Itachi managed to grab his other hand and throw it down, to where he could get a hit on Kakashi. Itachi threw the punch, but Kakashi quickly ducked to avoid the hit. While avoiding the hit, Kakashi notice the odd trail the fireball Itachi used earlier.

'_**Goukakyuu (great fireball)**__, there's something odd.'_

While thinking about it, Kakashi was caught off guard when Itachi reached for the back of Kakashi's neck and now the two just stared each other down. Something then began happening to Kakashi. The sky around him turned purple and he looked as if he were paper thin. Fire started at Kakashi's feet and quickly worked its way up while Itachi spoke.

"That's quite good, Kakashi-san," he began, "You hid using that Doton _(earth release)_ jutsu and it took me a bit to notice."

Suddenly the two were back in the real world still staring each other down and Itachi spoke again.

"That explains why my Genjutsu didn't work," Itachi went on. "This is a **Kage Bunshin **_**(shadow replication)**_."

The real Kakashi rose from the ground further away, "Sasuke, now!" he yelled. Sasuke charged at Itachi from behind with two Chidori's active, each in one hand.

"Chidori!" yelled Sasuke as he thrusted both palms into Itachi's back, ripping a hole in his back. Sasuke then noticed that something was wrong as blood came out of Itachi's mouth, it held a smirk. The body flew a few feet and landed on the ground. Kakashi, along with the others, walked up to Itachi making sure he was dead. What they saw shocked three of them while Sasuke clenched his fists in anger.

* * *

Team Gai, along with Pakkun who had come out of hiding since the fight with Kisame was over. The reached an area where there were trees once again and quickly leaped through them.

"What exactly was that?" asked Lee. The other two teammates stayed quiet and waited for an answer until Gai finally spoke.

"I don't know," the Jounin replied, "It was probably one of their…"

* * *

"Their jutsu of some kind," Sakura said as she looked at the body that was on the ground.

Kakashi sighed, "It's not all that surprising, I sensed something odd while fighting him."

"Damn it!" yelled Sasuke, "I was sure I had killed him!"

"Calm down Sasuke, you'll get your chance," replied Kakashi.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing," Baki interjected, "This is Yuuha, a Jounin from our village."

"Suna?" Kakashi asked, "What does this mean?"

"He was probably working for them," replied Baki. "He went missing a few days before Gaara was captured."

"Most likely an Akatsuki spy then," Sakura added.

"And to think he lead our village for so many years," replied the Suna Jounin.

"What the hell is this jutsu?" asked Sasuke.

"I don't know," replied the sliver-haired man, "But it was a crafty jutsu to trick us and stall us from reaching their hideout."

* * *

The real Kisame and Itachi were sitting on the rocks that they hadn't moved from in a long while.

"It seems you've lost as well," said Kisame.

"Yeah, out of chakra," replied Itachi. "However, that should have stalled them long enough."

Kisame chuckled a bit, "Well we did give thirty percent of our chakra to the _sacrifices_ anyway."

"It's a useful jutsu, I'll give it that," continued Itachi. "But our strength and jutsu are limited by the amount of chakra we gave which wasn't much to begin with."

* * *

Gaara still layed unconscious as the sealed demon was still slowly being extracted.

"The jutsu has ended," said their leader. "That brought us enough time, well done Kisame, Itachi."

"You make it sound simple," replied a voice with a small body that looked hunched over. "You sacrificed my subordinates."

"Sorry Sasori," said Itachi. "However, through the **Shouton no Jutsu **_**(Form Transfer Technique)**_ they were able to become members of the Akatsuki, for a bit. They would have been grateful to say the least."

"Just a bit longer," interrupted Naruto as he took part in the conversation for the first time since starting the extraction. _'I just hope that when this is over, I have no obstacles get in my way of getting to my destination.'_

* * *

**I've noticed a lot of people putting this story on their alerts, I want to thank you for taking interest in this story and hope you all enjoy it to the very end.**


	6. Gaara's Death and Infiltration!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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**6. Gaara's Death and the Hideout Infiltration!**

A breeze picked up while team seven continued staring at the body the once thought was Itachi. Sasuke was fuming, he was damn sure he had killed his brother and now this happens. Itachi was still alive probably laughing at him. With that thought, Sasuke grew even angrier. Next time, for sure, he'll kill Itachi. Sasuke was then broken out of his thoughts when Kakashi decided to speak.

"Looks like we've been had," he began, "I guess the real Itachi is at their hideout."

"So the purpose of this was to slow us down?" asked Baki and Kakashi nodded. "That's quite the jutsu."

Things went quiet for a bit before Baki spoke again.

"That means only one thing," the Jounin said and the others looked at him, waiting. "They're extracting the Bijuu from Gaara as we speak."

"They could very well create a new Jinchuuriki," Kakashi replied. "We don't have much time, we need to reach Gaara-kun as quick as possible."

When Kakashi said Jinchuuriki, Sakura became curious. "What's a Jinchuuriki?" she asked.

Kakashi replied, "A Jinchuuriki is someone that brings the Bijuu's power under control."

"But I thought they were protectors of some sort as Baki-san said," continued the kunoichi.

"Yes, but I also said eight of them turned against those villages and they were forced to seal them into human beings," Baki added. "And that's how they became known as Jinchuuriki."

"How do you extract a Bijuu?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know," replied Baki. "The only person in our village that would know would be Chiyo-sama, but she disappeared the same day Gaara was abducted."

"But if a Bijuu is extracted out of Jinchuuriki, the person holding that Bijuu will die," added Kakashi. The team stayed silent before Kakakshi motioned them to continue on. Sasuke took one last look at the body he thought was Itachi and clenched his fists again at the thought of his brother still being alive. Finally he turned to leave with the rest of the time.

* * *

Gaara laid there, the extraction still continuing. Finally the leader spoke to Zetsu.

"Zetsu," he began, "Go clean up those two we used the **Shouton no Jutsu **_**(Form Transfer Technique)**_ on."

"Understood," replied the Venus-Fly Trap like human.

The leader spoke again, "Itachi, who are they and how many are there?"

"A three man team made up of Konoha's Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura and…" he paused for a few seconds, not really wanting to mention his name. "Uchiha Sasuke and a Suna Jounin named Baki."

Naruto's eyes widened, _'Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke and Sakura-chan… I don't need this right now!'_

Hashi noticed the downcast on Naruto's face, "Naruto, what's the matter?"

The blonde ninja was shaken out of his thoughs, "Huh? Oh Hashi, everything's alright."

"It doesn't look like it, you got all tense after hearing those names of the Konoha ninja," replied Hashi.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," Naruto said waving his hands in a motion that told Hashi to drop the subject.

* * *

The sky was darkening as night approached. The clouds were once white while the sun was out, turned grey as it went down. Stars slowly started showing in the night sky as the full moon had taken over. A shadowed image stood looking to the ground, it was Zetsu looking at one of the bodies that were used to fool both Konoha teams and stall them.

"So this is Kisame's?" asked a robotic like voice, it was Zetsu's dark half speaking. "It looks appetizing."

"Let's hurry and eat him," said Zetsu's light side.

"Yeah," replied the dark half. Zetsu quickly picked up the body and closed off his head to devour the body which was used. Meanwhile, far away from where Zetsu was, a fire glistened in the dark forest as Team Seven along with Baki camped out for the night, preparing themselves for whatever tomorrow brought.

* * *

The sun shined over the large valley as Team Gai and Team Seven went leaped through trees at opposite ends of where they were headed. Team Seven were closing in at the hideout from the front while Team Gai closed in on the place from behind. All of them were ready for whatever was coming. Sasuke was prepared in facing his real brother this time around and was going to make sure he killed him once and for all, this was the reason he existed, this was his goal in life and he was damn sure he'll make it a reality here today. Kakashi was asking himself he was truly ready to face Naruto and questioned whether or not he really was part of the Akatsuki. Today was the day he'd fund out the answer to that question even though somewhere in his mind, he already knew the answer to it.

* * *

Inside the hideout, the extraction of Gaara's Bijuu was winding down. Soon it would be complete and the Akatsuki would have the 'One-Tailed'. The leader knew it was almost done and spoke to the rest.

"It's nearly done," he said to the group. Suddenly the blue light began to drift away from Gaara as the extraction was near completion.

* * *

White, everywhere was white. There were no walls, no anything. Just white. Suddenly a hand came to view and then inside a mind, that mind spoke.

'_Whose hand is this?'_

It was Gaara, surrounded by nothing but white. _'What is this? My hand?'_

He was confused; he didn't know where he was or how he got there. Then he knew exactly what was going on. He was dying and a question appeared within his mind.

'_I wonder if I have come to be needed by someone?'_

When Gaara brough his hand down and looked straight ahead, he saw himself, standing there, looking like he wanted someone.

'_Is that me?'_ he asked himself. _'That's the me who wanted to feel needed. Why did I want to be needed?'_

Gaara continued to stare at himself as that image grew closer and closer, _'Why do I desire that?'_ He stared at his own features of his face and asked himself who the hell he was in the first place. He thought it was him and continued to ask himself just exactly what he was.

'_Is it just a small sensation?'_

The image of himself slowly got smaller and soon it disappeared once again, there was nothing but white only for darkness to quickly set in.

* * *

The extraction of Gaara's Bijuu was complete. The light vanished and a pupil appeared in one of the nine eyes on the huge statue.

"It is done," said the Akatsuki leader. Outside the hideout the first team of Konoha ninja arrived, it was Gai's team. They landed on top of the water as Gai yelled out they had reached their destination. In front of them a large boulder with a seal on the middle of it stood in their way of entering the Akatsuki hideout. Just how are they supposed to get inside now? It was the only obstacle now and Team Gai just stared at it, wondering what they could do to get inside the Akatsuki Hideout. Pakkun jumped onto Lee's shoulder.

"Gaara's behind that bouolder," said the ninja dog.

Neji put his hands up to form a seal, "Byakugan!"

Tenten looked over, "What do you see, Neji?"

His eyes widened at what he saw inside the cave.

"Neji, what is happening in there?" Lee asked.

"I can't explain it in words," replied the Byakugan user. Gai was unimpressed and charged at the boulder, ready to knock it into tiny pebbles. With one thrust of his right arm, Gai punched the boulder as hard as he could. The result? The green spandex Jounin's fist was stopped by an invisible barrier. Inside the cave, the leader could hear Gai's punch on the barricaded boulder outside.

"It's fairly noisy outside," he said.

* * *

A breeze shook the leaves on a tall tree in the woods until one branch started shaking violently as three ninja leaped onto them then back off the poor unsuspecting tree branch. Team Seven continued pushing their way through the forest as fast as they could. Sasuke was out in front, determined to be the first to fight Itachi with Kakashi right behind him making sure the Uchiha didn't do anything stupid to get himself killed. With every though of Itachi, Sasuke just pushed on faster and faster. He was starting to lose the group as he pushed himself to go as fast as he could, even doing **Shushin **_**(Body Flicker)**_ every few branches.

"Sasuke-kun, wait up!" called out Sakura.

Kakashi sighed, _'I knew this was going to happen!'_

The silver-haired Jounin started pushing himself faster so he could catch up to the young Uchiha and try to slow him down at least. Soon Kakashi finally caught up with the every impatient Sasuke.

"You need to stay in the group, Sasuke." Kakashi said.

"But Itachi, he's…" replied Sasuke but Kakashi cut him off.

"I know, but rushing head first into battle with him is only going to get you killed. I told you when we fought that Itachi rip off to calm down."

Sasuke looked down, Kakashi was right. If he goes into battle like this, he'd only have his ass handed back to him, if he was lucky. He closed his eyes and cleared his mind of all thoughts and reopened them. They were still distant, but calm none the less. Kakashi was thankful and the two slowed down a bit so that Baki and Sakura could catch up.

* * *

Team Gai continued to examine the large boulder that was standing in their way of helping Gaara. They were sure that there had to be another way in.

"What do we do now?" asked Lee.

"We must remove the barrier," replied Gai.

"And how do we do that?" questioned Tenten.

"That's a **Five Seal Barrier**," said a voice from behind them. Team Gai turned around to find Team Seven standing there along with a Suna-nin. Gai smirked and then he spoke.

"Late as always, Kakashi."

Kakashi laughed nervously and placed a hand on the back of his head, "Eh, well we ran into some trouble on the way here, I'm afraid."

They all looked at the huge boulder, they knew exactly what they were going to do from here on out.

"Well Kakashi, are you ready?" asked Gai. Kakashi nodded and Team Gai and Team Seven got ready for action.

* * *

"Hashi, Naruto," the leader called out. The two that were called gave their full attention to who was talking to them, "Dispose of the mob outside as for everyone else, you may leave."

Everyone else began to leave except for the two Akatsuki members that were actually there in person. Hashi turned his attention to Naruto.

"I pretty much know what the Suna-nin's going to be like," he began, "But what about this Kakashi guy?"

"Be careful of Kakashi, he has the Sharingan like Itachi-san and can pretty much use it just as good," deadpanned Naruto.

"What about this Sasuke and Sakura?" asked Hashi.

Naruto flinched at those names, "I'll handle them, Kakashi will send those two after me," he said while picking up Gaara's body.

"Where are you going with the body?" asked Hashi who was slightly confused on why he'd pick up the body.

"Uh, to dispose it," lied Naruto but Hashi bought it. Before Naruto left, the leader hadn't left yet and finally spoke after their little conversation had ended.

"Very well, I'll be waiting for contact," said the leader before his hologram disappeared. Outside the cave, the two teams continued to stare at the large boulder. Just what were they doing?

"Well I think I'll disappear now, I'll just be in the way," said Pakkun, breaking the silence.

"Good work," said Kakashi and the ninja dog poofed out of existence.

"Anyways," Gai spoke up, "How do we take out this barrier?"

"This seal is created by five tokens with 'Kin' _(forbidden)_ written on them and placed in five places around the vicinity," explained Kakashi. "This one, along with four other tokens must be taken off at the same time."

"So where are the other four?" asked Sakura. Kakashi turned to Neji.

"Neji-kun, would you mind?" he asked.

"Very well," replied Neji as he places his hands into a hand seal, "Byakugan!" he shouted as the veins around his eyes popped out and small evidence of a pupil appeared.

"One's about five-hundred meters Northeast, on top of a rock," explained Neji. "Another is three-hundred fifty meters South-Southeast on the trunk of a tree by the riverside. Another is six-hundred fifty meters Northwest, on the side of a cliff and the final one is just under eight-hundred meters Southwest, in a Grove."

Gai was enthusiastic about it as ever, "Good, at that distance we'll be able to use radios!" he said pulling out a few radio sets from his backpack. "We'll keep in contact and follow Neji's instructions to find these tokens."

"Radio settings ready," said Tenten.

"When it comes to my team," Gai stated, starting to praise his team once again, "My team's faster! The frequency's one seventy-four, wait for contact!"

"It's up to you," Kakashi said messing with his radio as well.

"Team Gai! Let's go with the full flame of youth! Scatter!!" Gai yelled with great enthusiasm and the four quickly scattered in different directions in search of the four other tokens. About ten minutes went by as Neji found the seal upon the rock and began guiding Lee toward the token in the grove.

"Okay, found it!" Lee stated over the radio.

"Me too," replied Tenten just a few seconds afterwards. Gai reached his goal and gave the final word.

"Alright everyone, remove the tokens!" he said.

Simultaneously Team Gai ripped off the tags. Back at the boulder, Kakashi had stuck himself on the boulder and ripped the tag off that boulder as well.

"We're doing a buttonhook entry," said Kakashi who was still upon the boulder. Sakura just knew what he meant and put on her gloves and got into her stance, ready to plow right through that boulder. She pumped chakra into her fist and went right at it. Kakashi quickly jumped off the boulder to avoid an injury as Sakura's fist made contact with the large boulder. The powerful punch sent cracks running up through the boulder very quickly and the boulder crumbled to pieces and Team Seven entered the cave, they're eyes widened when only one Akatsuki member was sitting on a rock.

"Where's Gaara-kun?" asked Kakshi.

"Where, you ask?" replied Hashi with a question, "You just missed him."

Kakashi turned to Sasuke and Sakura, "Sasuke, Sakura, go find the other Akatsuki member, me and Baki will handle this one."

* * *

'_Seems to have gone well enough.'_ Gai thought, he was about to leave when he saw a figure with a black cloak running in his near direction with Gaara's body.

"Hey! Stop!" yelled Gai.

The cloaked male stopped, Gai's eyes widened when he saw who it was, "Naruto…" he gasped.

Naruto was in a panic, he didn't know Gai's team had made it too, _'Shit, this isn't what I needed today.'_

Gai charged at him, Naruto quickly made a **Kage Bunshin **_**(Shadow Replication)**_and disappeared down the side of the cliff. Gai quicky punched the replication, thinking it would disperse itself, however, that was not the case, it stood back up ready to fight.

'_Just what kind of __**Kage Bunshin**__ is this?'_

Naruto ran down the river back with Gaara attached to his back, he was going to make it to his destination without interference no matter what it took. He reached a huge tree only to find Tenten there, she spotted him running down the stream and couldn't believe her eyes.

"Naruto!?" she questioned, "It can't be you."

Naruto sighed, _'I guess I'll have to use four of those special Kage Bunshin's.'_

Tenten started throwing weapons at him with a tear in her eye, she couldn't believe she would be fighting Naruto now who, as it seemed to her, was involved with Akatsuki. As the weapons came hurling at him, he quickly made a **Kage Bunshin** to replace himself and quickly went up the cliff. The weapons hit the replication but it did not disperse like it was supposed to with one hit.

"What? It's still intact!" Tenten said to herself, not believing what she was seeing.

As Naruto hurled over the cliff, he saw Neji's back toward him and sighed. His plan really wasn't working out all that well. He tried to run off without being spotted, but because Nejia had his Byakugan, he saw Naruto.

"You're the one that beat it into me that anyone can change," he said, "Yet here you are, in the Akatsuki, have you betrayed your own beliefs?"

Naruto sighed, "This is the way it has to be, Neji."

Neji turned around and got into his Hyuuga stance, Naruto quickly made his special** Kage Bunshin** and ran off into the forest only to run into Lee.

"Naruto-kun!" he called out when he saw him, but his happiness faded when he noticed his attire. Black cloak with red clouds. "Don't tell me you're in the Akatsuki? That is most unyouthful!"

Naruto laughed bitterly, "None of you seem to understand, but I won't make it a point to explain it now."

Lee quickly ran at Naruto, kicking him in the face, but it wasn't the real Naruto, it was a **Kage Bunshin** because out of the corner of Lee's eyes, there was Naruto leaping through the trees. Lee was going to go after him when he realized the **Kage Bunshin** did not disperse from his kick.

"Just what is this?"

Naruto sighed, he managed to quickly escape all of Team Gai and let his special **Kage Bunshin's** do the work. He'd let the replications stay intact for as long as it took for him to reach his destination. Naruto thought he was out of the woods yet, until he sense two very familiar chakra signatures coming up from behind him.

'_Oh damn it, not them and not now.'_

_

* * *

_

"Well Baki, it's a surprise to see you here," said Hashi.

"I may be still slightly injured, but this time we're going to take you down," Baki said and Hashi suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind the two Jounin.

"Only if you can catch me," Hashi taunted and Kakashi sighed, he didn't want to play cat and mouse with this bastard but he had a duty and he, with Baki, started giving chase to the Akatsuki member.

* * *

**Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate it. I decided to do something different with Team Gai's fight since I thought that part where they fight themselves was lame.**


	7. Pursuit and Battle

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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**7. Pursuit and Battle**

The blonde leaped through the trees as fast as he could so he would not get caught. He had been fleeing from the hideout with Gaara in hand for the last ten minutes and he had yet to lose the two that were still chasing him. He cursed his luck and thought if it hadn't been for Gai's team for getting in his way first, he wouldn't have been chased right now. The blonde then looked over his shoulders and saw two figures in the far away distance approaching him. He cursed his luck again and passing one tree, he quickly broke off a branch and created a **Kage Bunshin **_**(Shadow Replication)**_ in front of him, handing the branch over to the **Kage Bunshin**, he transformed it to look like the deceased Gaara and the clone took off toward the night. Behind the blonde, Sasuke notied that a second cloaked figure went off to the right and he turned to Sakura.

"Sakura, did you see the other cloaked figure run off?" he asked and the pink-haired kunzite nodded. "Follow it and I'll follow the one that is still ahead of us."

Sakura did as such and began to go after the other cloaked man.

Naruto looked over his shoulder once again to find that there was only one figure now following him, he sighed a breath of relief, at least he'd only have to deal with one of them instead of both. He turned his attention back to what was in front of him and saw a clearing up ahead, it was were he was supposed to meet a contact and then remembered what he had said to that client.

'_If I am being pursued, when no one is paying attention, take the body without being noticed and go to a place where you can meet Temari and Kankurou as I trust you'll tell them before you leave and on top of that, tell them to keep this top secret.'_

It looked like it would be done that way after all, he had hoped he would not come to this kind of complication, but life just doesn't go the way you want it especially after abandoning your village and becoming a member of a detestable organization like Akatsuki, but that's beside the point. Naruto finally jumped from the final tree into the clearing and landed on the ground gracefully. He set the body down near the brush and trees on the other side of the clearing and took a few steps backwards and stood there, waiting. He casually placed his straw hat back on to hide his face once again as he continued waiting for the battle that would show itself in just a few moments. This was it, a moment that now turned inevitable, he would have to face his ex-teammates and he knew they would have questions as to why.

Sasuke noticed the Akatsuki member stopping in a clearing, and as he got closer, he watched as he placed the body of Gaara down and put on some kind of hat. This was his chance to catch this guy off guard. Getting closer and closer, Sasuke pulled out a couple of kunai so he could pounce, hopefully injuring the Akatsuki freak to some degree, weakening him maybe to bring the fight to an easier standard. Reaching that final tree, Sasuke landed on the branch and leaped off, aiming straight for the black cloaked man standing with his back turned. As soon as he got close enough, something happened. It was all a blur as pain swept through his chest and Sasuke found himself flying through the air. Naruto had turned quickly and landed a massive kick to Sasuke in the chest. That moment reminded him of that day back at the hotel in which Itachi had kicked him out of the way to question Naruto. He stood up, was this guy Itachi after all? It was a question Sasuke was asking himself as he stared at the figure who stood before him with his face hidden.

"Show yourself!" demanded Sasuke.

"Are you prepared for what you're about to see?" the figure said in a terrifyingly familiar voice. The voice was definitely not Itachi's but it was of another male who he was once close with. Sasuke didn't say another word but the figure took his straw hat off, revealing his face. Sasuke's fear in who the voice belonged too came ture when he saw the blonde hair and blue eyes, his fists clenched and gritted his teeth.

* * *

Hashi leaped quickly over the massive horizontal pillars that ran from wall to wall across the valley. Kakashi and Baki where not too far behind but far enough that they couldn't engage Hashi right away.

"I know what he's doing," said Baki, bringing Kakashi out of his thoughts. "He's leading us away so we don't go and help your teammates take out his partner."

"Yeah, I figured that, however, I believe Sasuke and Sakura can manage," replied the Konoha Jounin.

Hashi looked back and saw the two still trailing but following nonetheless, _'Good, those fools are still following me, I'm sure Naruto can handle those ex-teammates of his.'_

"You said he fights with a large sword, correct?" asked Kakashi.

"Yeah, do you have something in mind to defeat him with?" asked Baki.

"As a matter of fact, I do," replied the silver-haired man. "It'll take a while to be prepared, but once we reach the end of the valley, that's where the battle will begin."

Baki nodded his head in approval when Kakashi removed his hitai-te from his left eye. He kept the eye closed and brought his hand out and made a seal to cover his left eye as he concentrated. Baki stared in confusion, wanting to know exactly what he was planning but it would have to wait.

* * *

Sakura followed the cloaked figure; she was determined to catch it to find out who it was. She was praying inside that it wasn't Naruto like everyone was saying. She was hoping everyone was wrong. In her mind, Naruto wasn't the type of person who would just leave and end up in an evil organization like Akatsuki. The day Sasuke came back after Naruto left the village was an awful day.

**Flashback:**

_She heard the news, Sasuke had returned from the mission to retrieve Naruto. Few days ago, Naruto had left the village under the cover of night, this had come after a huge fight he had with his father. She couldn't believe he had left over something that dumb but it wasn't her concern right now. The pink-haired girl was running for the gate, hoping that Sasuke found Naruto and brough him back. When she got to the gate, she found Kakashi had already got there first and he was talking with Sasuke, she became very worried when she didn't see Naruto with them. She arrived and Kakashi noticed her and Sasuke had a saddened look on his face._

"_Sakura," said Sasuke as he turned to face her. "I couldn't find him, I lost his trail."_

"_No," Sakura said becoming frantic, "It's not true, he didn't abandon the village!"_

"_I'm afraid so Sakura," Kakashi spoke. "Naruto has become a missing-nin."_

"_I tried my hardest to find him," the raven-haired boy continued. "I lost his trail; there was no where else for me to look."_

_Sakura was on the verge of tears, she didn't want to believe it, she couldn't believe it. Someone who was so loyal and bent on becoming Hokage just like his father wouldn't just up and leave the village after one huge fight with his father, that was not Naruto at all._

**End of flashback.**

A lone tear came out of Sakura's eyes at the memory of that day. Suddenly the figure she was chasing down disappeared out of existence. This whole time she was chasing a **Kage Bunshin**. She was startled when she heard a faint scream, she couldn't make out what the voice said, but she knew it was Sasuke's and began running through the trees in the direction that voice came from.

* * *

"Why are you with Itachi!?" question Sasuke in a yell. Naruto stayed calm, his eyes were cold and distant and after a few minutes of silence he finally spoke in an emotionless voice.

"I'm not with Itachi," he replied. "I'm with Akatsuki."

Sasuke growled. "Why are you with his group then!?" the Uchiha yelled.

"Why bother explaining myself, you wouldn't understand," replied Naruto.

"That day he came, I heard him ask you to join the organization, why did you take up that offer?" Sasuke asked as he continued his interrogation hoping to get some answers. Naruto stood there, no emotion on his face from what Sasuke could make of, he didn't answer, he didn't move his mouth one bit and Sasuke was getting impatient.

"Answer the fucking question!" yelled Sasuke as he was losing his cool. The very thought of his best friend joining up with Itachi on his own free will was making Sasuke nuts. He was really ready to find Itachi and rip him to pieces.

"I didn't give my answer then," finally replied Naruto.

**Flashback:**

_Itachi kicked Sasuke in the chest and the younger Uchiha hit the wall hard._

"_Sasuke!" yelled Naruto as Itachi approached him._

"_Naruto-kun, the Akatsuki want your abilities," Itachi stated, "We want you to join the Akatsuki."_

"_What? Why?" asked Naruto._

"_Indeed, why does he want a stupid runt like this?" asked Kisame._

"_Because he can summon the Kyuubi no Kitsune (Nine-Tailed Fox)" replied Itachi._

_Naurto's eyes widened, "H-how'd you know about that? Only my father and Ero-sennin know about that!"_

"_We have our sources, what do you say?" asked Itachi and then an older, white-haired male joined in on the action as he got ready to attack the two Akatsuki members. Itachi knew exactly who it was._

"_Kisame we must lave now," Itachi said then turned to Naruto, "Think about the offer, we'll meet with you again soon."_

_The two fled as Jiraiya approached Naruto and placed his hand on his shoulder, "What did they want with you?"_

"_Nothing." lied Naruto. "Come on Ero-sennin, we need to find this Tsunade so she can heal Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei."_

**End of flashback.**

"Lies!" yelled Sasuke.

"I had no intentions on becoming a member of the Akatsuki, even after I left the village that day," Naruto lied and he noticed Sasuke wasn't buying it.

Sakura came in from behind and noticed the wild blonde hair at the figure in front of her. Her fears were coming true right before her eyes. That hair only belonged to two people in Konoha, and that was the Yondaime Hokage and his son Naruto and Naruto was the one standing before her. Tears were forming in her eyes again, she couldn't believe that her former teammate and friend was standing in the Akatsuki's attire then was shaken out of her thoughts when the blonde started talking.

**Flashback:**

_Naruto ran through the forest, he'd been at it for days after getting away from the village. After his fight with his father, he just didn't seem to care about anything anymore. He couldn't believe his own signatures behind him, they were vaguely familiar but he was prepared to fight whoever was coming. Naruto quickly turned around to get ready when he saw Itachi and Kisame standing calmly._

"_You guys again," stated Naruto._

"_I see you've left the village, Naruto-kun," Itachi said pointing to his forehead where his Hitai-te would've been._

"_I guess you can say that," replied the now missing-nin._

"_Have you thought about our offer to join?" asked Itachi._

"_It was tempting but I'll pass, I want to be a loner," Naruto said before starting to walk off. No sooner did he start walking, Itachi appeared in front of him. "Huh? What's the meaning of this?"_

"_I guess I have no choice but to force you to join.," Itachi said._

"_You can't force me to do shit! If it's a fight you're looking for, then bring it!" yelled Naruto._

**End of flashback.**

"As you can see, I lost that fight," Naruto finished. Sasuke seemed to have bought the story and Naruto smirked. _'It didn't go quite like that, but at least the fool bought.'_

'_I guess I have no choice, I'll have to beat him 'til he is unconscious and bring him back for Sakura's sake.'_

Sasuke went through hand seals as he charged electric chakra into the palm of his left hand. Naruto didn't hesitate to start filling his right hand with spiraling wind chakra. Sakura's eyes widened at what was about to unfold. She had to stop Naruto, at least from killing Sasuke. She pumped chakra into her fist as she charged to slam a punch into Naruto. Her eyes widened as a **Kage Bunshin **_**(Shadow Replication)**_ quickly formed and caught her punch. What amazed her more was how it could manage to hold her strength.

'_Impossible.'_

Sasuke leaped with his electricity at full power and Naruto waited patiently with his spiraling wind sphere at full power.

"Chidori!" Sasuke yelled has he thrust his hand forward.

"**Fuuton: Rasengan **_**(Wind Release: Rasengan)**_!" yelled Naruto as he thrust his hand forward, colliding with Sasuke's hand. As the two attacks collide, it caused a small explosion. It sent Sasuke flying back but Naruto stood his ground and the **Kage Bunshin** roughly threw her arm up and quickly, by both hands, thrust Sakura backwards and dispersed. Naruto turned around to see who was behind him and his eyes widened in total shock, it was Sakura.

"S-Sakura-chan…" he said quietly. She looked up at him with sadness in her eyes which caused Naruto to look away to the side and at the ground.

"Why?" she asked.

He smiled a bit, which was unlike him since training under the Akatsuki for nearly the last three years but the smile was a sad smile, "Sakura-chan, this is the way it has to be."

While Naruto was talking to Sakura, Sasuke charged at Naruto and landed a few punches but Naruto turned into a log. Sasuke's eyes widened then suddenly Naruto appeared into his vision and quickly punched him in the face. Sakura, as much as she didn't want to, tried to get into the fight as well and charged at Naruto. A **Kage Bunshin** quickly appeared in front of her, grabbing her arms, lifting her into the air and throwing her to where Sasuke was.

'_How can he make Kage Bunshin's so fast!'_

"Sakura, leave this to me, okay?" said Sasuke to Sakura. She nodded and the Uchiha turned on his Sharingan.

"Sharingan? You're kidding right?" mocked Naruto. "I trained under Itachi-san as a subordinate for the last few years, I know how to fight someone with Sharingan."

Sasuke didn't care what Naruto was saying and charged at Naruto and began an onslaught for punches and kicks, which Naruto managed to block. It was Naruto's turn to attack. Sasuke read his movements as a punch, but was surprised when a painful kick was inflicted on his side. He rolled over and looked up with a surprised and questioning look.

"I made you see I was going to punch you but instead sub-consciously kick you instead," Naruto said, knowing full well Sasuke was confused. He gritted his teeth, he was so much stronger now then her ever was, back in their academy days, as Sasuke remembered, they were a tie in almost everything but two and a half years with the Akatsuki, Naruto surpassed him with flying colors. This definitely wasn't the same Naruto.

Naruto looked over to where Gaara's body was supposed to be and it was gone, _'She showed up after all, good.'_ He let out a relieved sigh, _'Sorry Gaara, for putting you through that but at least you'll be okay after all.'_ He turned back to his two teammates, _'I've got to end this quickly and help Hashi.'_

Sasuke landed near Sakura and looked at her sternly, "Alright, I need your help after all, her both need to take him head on."

She nodded her head and got off her knees and stood next to Sasuke. The two faced Naruto, who was just standing there. They charged at Naruto and Sasuke was the first to arrive and started another onslaught of punches and kicks that were blocked by Naruto, but Sasuke was hoping it was more of a distraction for Sakura as she came charing in. A **Kage Bunshin** quickly appeared and caught her. That caught Sasuke off guard and the real Naruto grabbed a hold of him and the two Naruto's tossed the two teammates out of his reach. As they flew through the air, nearing the ground, four more Naruto **Kage Bunshins **appeared and Naruto looked at his two ex-teammates with cold, distant eyes.

"This is the way it has to be," he whispered and made a hand seal. "**Kage Bunshin: Tajuu Bakuhatsu **_**(Shadow Replication: Multiple Explosions)**_!"

Sasuke's eyes widened as all four of the **Kage Bunshins** exploded, sending him and Sakura hurling through the air faster and slamming into the ground. Sasuke managed to get up slowly and looked toward where Naruto was, he was gone. He looked over Sakura, she was knocked unconscious.

Naruto leaped toward the hideout as fast as he could, he knew Hashi wouldn't last too long with fighting Kakashi but he was determined to make it and help his teammate and escape.

'_I'm coming to help Hashi, so you better be grateful.'_

* * *

**Hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for the reviews and everyone that has played this story on your alerts and or favorites, I appreciate it a lot.**


	8. End Result

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**  
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* * *

8. End Result**

Kakashi, along with Baki stopped for a second. They were not too far from the Akatsuki hideout, but they knew they'd need help in disposing of the one they were chasing. Hashi looked back to see they stopped and growled, thinking they were going to coward their way out of a fight by just letting him get away. Hashi turned his supposed opponents and was about to perform a jutsu when he heard Kakashi talk.

"Gai, can you hear me?" he asked over the radio, "We need your help quickly."

Gai, from where he was and facing the Naruto replication answered back. "I can't really do that at the moment. I'm fighting a Kage Bunshin of Naruto that won't seem to disperse when hit."

Kakashi's eyes widened. _'Is that even possible?'_ He then sighed, _'Well, I got my work cut out for me then.'_

Kakashi turned to see Hashi had stopped. Once Hashi noticed Kakashi staring at him, smirked and continued to let them give chase. The Konoha Jounin and the Suna Jounin continued after the Suna missing-nin.

"So, how much longer 'til you're ready?" asked Baki as they leaped through the canyon.

"Still a ways," replied the silver-haired Jounin.

* * *

Gai quickly charged at the Naruto replication, giving it a fast kick to the stomach, the clone tried to block it but the force of the hit caused it to slide back, but of course with each hit Gai made the clone would not disperse.

'_This replication… Why won't it disperse?'_ Gai pondered.

* * *

Tenten was breathing heavily as she held one of her many sealing scrolls that held her weapons. She was throwing everything she had at the Naruto replication, but it continued taking the hits and well it was still there. It was frustrating the poor brown-haired kuniochi into submission but she wasn't going to give up.

'_Kage Bunshins are supposed to disperse after one hit, yet these…'_

Tenten threw another barrage of kunai, shuriken and other assorted shinobi weapons at the replication. It threw a few back and they clanged together and fell. The weapons that did make it past that, the replication quickly started kicking them back using chakra which Tenten ultimately had to dodge. This was going to be a long fight.

* * *

Lee wasn't making any progress as well. He continued to barrage the replication with his fast kicks and punches only for the replication either to take it but remain standing, or use those attacks against Lee in making him lose balance or push him back. Lee was determined to somehow make the Bunshin disperse like they're supposed to.

'_Naruto-kun, where did you pick this up from?'_

* * *

All around the battlefield Neji and the replication created had craters all over the area from Neji's rotation technique. Neji was in his Hyuuga Gentle Fist stance with his Byakugan activated as well as breathing heavily.

'_It's so fast, right before I manage to cut the chakra out of the replication, it makes another that won't disperse with normal attacks.'_

If Neji didn't know any better, he'd believe someone was subconsciously controlling these replications as a time consuming distraction.

* * *

"When you are finally ready, let me fight him," Baki said, breaking the silence that had shrouded the two Jounin for the past ten minutes. They still continued to chase down Hashi as Kakashi prepared for a secret technique to use again.

"That's fine, I wanted you to create a distraction," replied the Konoha Jounin.

Baki nodded in acknowledgement and continued to chase down Hashi at full speed.

* * *

Back in Sunagakure no Sato (Village Hidden in the Sand) a council meeting was being held. The entire council was sitting around a large round table, discussing issues concerning Gaara and the village.

"When will Gaara actually return?" asked one of the council members. "We can't let the other countries know he was kidnapped by the likes of missing-nins"

The rest nodded in agreement then and another council member spoke, "And on top of that, wasn't one of the abductors Kousa Hashi?"

Then a younger, but middle aged council member spoke next. "If it becomes known our Kazekage is missing, there'll be no way of telling when our neighboring countries might want to invade again."

Kankurou, who was sitting in on the meeting, started to glare at the one talking as he continued.

"Concentrating on the stability of this village is more important than anything else at the moment."

"It's too early to assume Gaara is not coming back!" Kankurou yelled.

The middle aged council member replied, "Well, the fact of the matter is it would be in the village's best interest if he didn't."

The glare Kankurou was giving the council member intensified at the statement the old geezer just said, "What are you saying?"

"Gaara is an unstable monster in which the Ichibi is sealed inside," began the geezer, "I was hoping he'd be easier to control if made Kazekage, but he'll always be capable of going berserk. It's obvious he's nothing but trouble. While Gaara did match well with the Ichibi, Shikaku, he still was always an incomplete and unstable test subject. A failure to such a degree that even his father, the Yondaime, ordered his assassination. While there are a number of the misinformed young villages that look up to him, the fact remains that nearly everyone else fears him and expects nothing good of him."

Finally, Kankurou had enough and stood up and got into the old geezer's face yanking him from the chair.

"I dare you to say something like that again!" Kankurou yelled, "Even if you're my superior, I'll kill you!"

"Stop Kankurou!" yelled the head of the Council, "You're in front of the statues of the Kazekages, this is a sacred place!"

Kankurou stopped instantly but he still had a firm grasp on the council member's robe.

"You have every reason to be angry but there is reason behind what he says," the head continued but in a calmer voice, "The real situation is not a question whether or not to rely on Gaara."

Kankurou made the "tch" sound and let go of the council member who began gasping for breath and began walking off while the head council member spoke once again.

"Something like this happened long ago, the Sandaime Kazekage was abducted and then a lot of guess work went around concerning his location. War broke out and inter-country relations became stormy. Had we not been so desperate to seek out the Sandaime and had paid more attention to the safety of our village, that wouldn't have happened."

Kankurou was silent for a bit before questioning, "Then why did you not do that?"

"Sandaime was the strongest Kazekage of them all and besides, his corpse was never found," replied the head of the council. Kankurou's eyes widened as the member continued with his speech. "That such a person could be defeated so easily but for now, we must put the village first."

* * *

Hashi decided it was time to have a little fun with the two ninja's chasing him. He grabbed a few kunai and attached an explosive tag to them and started leaving them on the pillars connecting the canyon walls. Kakashi noticed what he was going to do and threw a few kunai of his own, to knock Hashi's kunai off course and blow up elsewhere. Quickly as Kakashi deflected some of the booby trapped kunai, one exploded right in front of Kakashi, causing smoke between him and Hashi. A few shuriken came flying out of the smoke which Kakashi narrowly deflected them with his kunai.

"That was close, he's pretty good," Kakashi admitted.

Baki, who was doing pretty much the same thing as Kakashi, turned to reply. "He was an ex-ANBU captain, so beware."

"I was one too for Konoha, so I think I can manage."

"I see you managed to deflect my little attempt to kill you," Hashi finally spoke for the first time since letting the two ninja give chase to him. "It's a pleasure to fight you as well, Sharingan no Kakashi.

Hashi took off once again while Kakashi and Baki gave chase once again. That little mishap threw Kakashi off his concentration.

"I need more time, he threw me off, now I have to prepare from the beginning," said Kakashi to Baki who sighed in frustration.

The Suna Jounin was getting tired of chasing Hashi already who had an unusual need to either mock them or just play around with their abilities as a distraction from getting Gaara's body but Baki was determined to rid the world of this missing-nin.

* * *

Back in Suna, Temari was walking along the streets along with a few other Suna ninja and Stopped before stairs where Kankurou was sitting.

"You're late," he said without looking up.

"It may not look like it, but I got here as fast as I could," countered Temari. "Besides, you were late in sending replacements for border patrol. It's your fault for not getting things ready sooner!"

"I'm the one letting you decide despite the fact I just recovered so you should be thanking me," replied Kankurou.

Temari made a noise that Kankurou didn't quite catch but none the less he stood up.

"Well then, let's go to that rally point that _she_ talked about," said Temari.

* * *

Kakashi continued his focus while Baki kept a close watch on Hashi to see if he tried to pull anything like he did just a few minutes before. Hashi kept his glance on the two ninja chasing him.

'_I need to stop running soon before I get too tired to battle, but with Copy-nin after me, I have a real fight on my hands here.'_

"I think the time is coming soon to engage in battle," Hashi said outloud.

Kakashi looked back to notice how far they've traveled since beginning pursuit on Hashi. _'We're too far away from the others now to call for help. Alright, time to get it ready for once and far all because there is no way around it.'_

The chase continued in silence with Hashi looking over his shoulder every now and then to see if the fools were still chasing him. He chuckled seeing them still in pursuit, oh how desperate they were.

"It is time," said Kakashi as he put his hand down and opened his left eye revealing his Sharingan, only for it to look like a pinwheel.

Baki saw it and had to ask, "A new Sharingan?"

Kakashi nodded. "Mangekyou Sharingan!"

Kakashi stared right at Hashi as everything around him began getting wavy. Hashi continued but he didn't know what was going on now.

"What the hell is this?" he asked himself trying to escape it but couldn't.

An area around his heart began to sink into some kind of black hole that was being created by Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan. Finally Hashi realized what was going on and quickly did hand seals.

'_That's one hell of a Doujutsu.'_

Where Hashi's heart is supposed to be, the drag inside the hole created by the Mankegyou pulled him deeper and deeper. Hashi moved but it was still there but it moved from his heart toward his left arm as Hashi tried to figure out what was happening to him.

Kakashi realized what Hashi did and cursed himself as the arm came off but the arm and Hashi turned into logs as the log disappeared into thin air. This gave Kakashi quite the struggle as he had to immediately close his eyes and cover up his left eye. Baki was left amazed.

'_That was a powerful doujutsu, too bad Hashi got away.'_

Kakashi sighed, _'Damn, he managed to use the substitution technique before I snapped his arm off and even then I would have missed. I still can't control the location and size of the barrier limiting the area.'_

Kakashi tried it again as Hashi stood where he appeared after the substitution had activated. Hashi was prepared to evade it once again when he felt a chakra signature from his side, he looked over to see Baki, with wind in his hand leaping at him.

"Kaze Katana (Wind Blade)!" Baki yelled and attempted to thrust Hashi with the sharp wind attack.

Hashi quickly jumped out of the way as the attack hit the ground he was standing on.

"Is that all you got Baki?" he asked.

"No, I'm just getting started," the Suna Jounin replied.

While Kakashi was watching, slowly, because of fatigue, the Mangekyou Sharingan disappeared as his normal Sharingan eye appeared.

Baki and Hashi began to fight, in a fierce Taijutsu battle throwing punches and kicks left and right. Each blocking the others, finally Hashi saw and opening and took it, landing a hard punch across Baki's face knocking him back a few feet. Hashi jumped back a few more feet and slowly took out his thin sword. Placing his hand on the blade, Hashi pumped some charka into it letting its true form out. The once thin blade was now twice as long as well as wide. Kakashi eyes widened.

"That's a huge blade," he said to himself.

Kakashi concentrated again and his Sharingan eye turned into a pinwheel once again. He was going to at least warp the sword.

Hashi began hacking at Baki who was merely force to only dodge and not attack. He didn't have any time to make hand seals to use a jutsu. He was only concentrated on keeping one step ahead of Hashi so he could dodge the large sword. Soon the area around Hashi's hand and sword began to warp.

"Shit!" he cursed out loud as he jumped back, letting go of the sword.

No sooner when Hashi jumped out of the way did the sword disappeared. Hashi stood there dumbstruck and finally turning to Kakashi.

"What the hell did you do to my sword!?" he yelled.

* * *

Gai was heavily out of breath. Everything he threw at the replication didn't work. He used everything he had in his arsenal to defeat this rather peculiar Kage Bunshin but nothing worked. He fell to one knee, he had never been this tired in all his life, finally Kami was on his side as the bunshin just dispersed.

"It's gone, did I finally beat it?" Gai asked himself.

Further away where Tenten was fighting, she stood with a large scroll out and weapons layed scattered everywhere. She used up all her weapons, throwing them at the Bunshin only for it stay standing there. She was now tired, frustrated and believed there'd be no way in hell she would defeat this special Kage Bunshin, of course that was until it dispersed.

She collapsed to the ground and sighed with a quiet "Finally."

Lee as well as Neji were out of breath and relieved when the Bunshin's they were fighting were dispersed as well.

"It is over," Lee to himself.

And with Neji, he let out a content sigh, signaling himself the battle was over.

* * *

"I warped it somewhere else," Kakashi said flatly.

"You bastard!" growled Hashi.

Just then did Sasuke and Sakura land near Kakashi, beaten up and tired.

"What the hell happened to you two?" asked Kakashi.

Sakura didn't want to speak so Sasuke spoke instead. "Naruto creamed us."

"Naruto, you say?" Kakashi said like it was no big surprise yet inside he was deeply shocked. _'So it's true then.'_

Hashi was getting angry, was he forgotten just now? Well it doesn't matter because he was about to kill some ninja even without the damn sword, but before he did a voice called out.

"That's enough Hashi."

He looked up, as well as the Konoha team with Baki. There in the tree's stood Naruto in his Akatsuki cloak and scratched Hitai-te. Kakashi sighed, the rumors of Naruto being in the Akatsuki were definitely true. He didn't want to believe until he actually saw it. Kakashi shook his head in disappointment.

'_Sensei, what did you do to push Naruto into the Akatsuki?'_

"But that bastard warped my sword, I need to kill him!" yelled Hashi if he were a mere child.

"We'll go look for it, our mission is complete, let's retreat," deadpanned Naruto.

"Wait!" called out Kakashi.

Naruto just stared as if he never seen Kakashi in his entire life. Kakashi actually was quite unnerved under that gaze. Naruto used to be a goofy kid with big dreams. He was tied in strength with Sasuke, but now, here he was in the Akatsuki with a cold, distant stare.

Naruto turned as the two Akatsuki members retreated. Kakashi never got to say what was on his mind at the time.

Just after that did Team Gai arrive on the seen.

"It's too late, they escaped," Kakashi said before anyone said anything. Baki was determined to say something since he wasn't allowed to yet.

"That must have been the one to have taken Gaara's body, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Kakashi answered with a question.

"We need to go back, maybe Temari and Kankurou recovered Gaara's body," replied Baki.

"Very well then, let's go."

The two teams quickly headed back the way Team Gai came, retracing their steps in hopes to find Gaara's body.

* * *

**Hello everyone, sorry for the two day delay. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. Lastly, thanks for all the reviews. **


	9. The Return

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. This is the rewritten Chapter 9.

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**9. The Return**

Two cloaked males stood on a cliff far off in the distance from Gaara, unnoticed and watching the scene play out in front of them. On the ground, hundreds of feet away, had what looked like to be the entire force of Sunagakure watching helplessly as an old woman desperately tried to revive their Kazekage. The woman continued to push her chakra into Gaara and confrontation from a certain cloaked visitor just days before began to play into her mind.

**Flashback:**

_The cloaked figure stood and waited to see if the old woman would even notice his presence as she stared at the water in front of her. After a few minutes of nothing he finally decided to speak._

"_You're Chiyo, grandmother of Sasori, correct?" the cloaked male asked startling the old woman. She turned her head to see the blonde-haired, blue-eye male wearing the black cloak with red cloud patterns. His forehead protector representing the Konoha still tied to his forehead but with a fine slash running through the middle of the metal plate._

"_How do you know that?" asked the startled old woman._

"_Because," the young male began," Sasori is in the same organization as I am."_

"_What organization would be that be?" the old woman questioned as she got to her feet."_

"_The Akatsuki," simply replied the blonde._

'_Sasori…' "What do you want anyway?"_

"_I've come with a request. Today Gaara will be abducted by my partner for the benefit of the organization and I need your power to restore Gaara," stated the blonde._

"_Restore Gaara, what do you mean?" asked the confused head Sungakure council member._

"_The Bijuu, we need it."_

"_And why would an organization like the Akatsuki want to revive him after doing something like that?" asked the old woman ready to battle if it came to it._

"_This request isn't about what the Akatsuki wants, it's about what I want." replied the blonde in a dark monotone voice._

"_Why do you want me to do it?" she asked._

"_Just use your power on Gaara, it would help our reputation if he's alive."_

"_Now why would I want to restore Gaara for your reputation?"_

"_I can see it in your eyes," the blonde began, "I can tell you regret ever sealing the Ichibi into Gaara and I know you want forgiveness. If you want that, then restore Gaara's life after we finished extracting the Bijuu. This will be viewed as your forgiveness for the mistakes you've made in the past. Take this scroll for it holds the location I want you to meet me at in six days. However, if I am caught in battle, just grab the body when no one is paying attention and take it to another location for the process. I assume you'll tell his siblings as well so if you do, make sure they keep it a secret as well."_

"_If I do this, I'm only doing it for my forgiveness and for the hope Gaara and the rest of the village sees your defeat," replied the old woman with her final answer._

"_Very well," the blonde said and disappeared without a trace._

**End of flashback.**

Chiyo continued to push her chakra into Gaara. Temari and Kankurou watched helplessly as the old woman continued her quest to revive their younger brother. Temari began to think the technique wasn't going to have any effect. Kankurou continued to stare in pure disbelief. Soon the old woman was near her end as Gaara slowly started to breathe. At the exact moment, Team Kakashi and Team Gai finally reached the border. They stood and watched as Gaara was finally revived by the courtesy of an old woman they never seen before. When the special technique was over, she slumped over signifying her death by giving Gaara another chance at his. After her encounter with the Akatsuki member, she didn't want to go through with it at first but when she got to thinking about the pain it caused Gaara because of sealing the deamon inside the poor child and the loneliness he must of went through, she decided to go through it in her quest for forgiveness and hope that Gaara would seek out the Akatsuki and defeat.

* * *

Everything around was white. A hand then started to appear in view. It was blurry at first but soon it focused into an image that could be clearly seen.

'_Who's hand is this? It's mine!'_

Gaara opened his eyes and his entire surrounding began to flood into sight. After everything focused into perfect view he slowly sat up and looked around. The surprise was clearly written on his face when he saw the majority of Suna's forces standing around him.

"What's this?" the Kazekage asked.

"They all came to save you, Gaara-kun," replied Kakashi.

Kankurou sighed then spoke, "I always have to worry about, don't I?"

Temari closed her eyes to that remark and spoke her mind as well, "Shut up, he's still the Kazekage, so don't act so ignorant. Underlings, I swear." After scolding Kankurou, she bent down to Gaara's level, "How are you feeling?"

Gaara tried to stand up but a wave of pain quickly took a hold of him forcing him to stay put.

"You shouldn't try to move just yet, your body isn't fully recovered yet," said Gaara's sister as she held him steady when he finally stood up. The Suna-nin began talking amongst themselves, some began to cry, some asking if the Kazekage really had died. Then a girl that stood in front of the man started screaming that there was no way in hell Gaara would have died so easily. With that comment, this started a chain reaction of fan girls to start praising Gaara. While the Suna force cheered that their leader was safe, Kankurou looked over at the old woman and sighed.

'_So she used _that_ jutsu.'_

Gaara tried to walk but stumbled a bit, Kankurou, along with Temari, helped him as he approached Chiyo's body. When he reached her, he spoke.

"Let's say a prayer for Chiyo."

* * *

Hashi and Naruto looked on as Gaara had gotten up from his death. Hashi didn't know what the hell was going on and looked at Naruto. He was just about to question when he noticed the look on Naruto's face, a look he knew all too well. He turned back and forth from the scene below to Naruto. Finally the pieces came together.

"You planned it, didn't you?" the swordsman asked.

Naruto turned his face, "What do you think?"

After Naruto answered Hashi with a question, he turned away and began to walk. Hashi wasn't satisfied with such an answer, if he could even call it one, he was going to press the subject further.

"You planned it, didn't you?" Hashi asked again. Naruto stopped, he was going to answer but Hashi didn't give the time and continued talking. "I didn't say anything before but when I ran out of the village with the Jinchuuriki, I didn't see you where I left you and you appeared right on the spot to fight that bastard that was chasing me."

Naruto sighed in annoyance, "Do you really want to know?" he turned his head and saw Hashi nod. "Fine, yes I was the one that planned the resurrection of Gaara. I simply wanted living proof of what the Akatsuki is capable of so that the rest of the world will begin to fear us.

Hashi could see what Naruto was saying but he had to ask, "Wouldn't it have been better if he was dead?"

"No," replied the blonde. "We'd have simply disposed of the body by letting Zetsu-san eat it and Suna would make up lies to cover up the embarrassment."

Hashi thought for a moment, "I guess I can see where you're coming from."

Naruto started walking again while Hashi stayed put. The blonde noticed and turned his head, "Come on, we got to meet up with Leader-sama after we find the sword you managed to lose."

Hashi cursed Naruto mentally as he began to follow his pain in the ass partner, _'How the hell did I end up being the one bossed around? I'm older than him!'_

* * *

Minato sat listening as his assistant read the report Kakashi had sent from Suna letting them know of the death of Chiyo as well as Team Kakashi and Team Gai's mission completion and when they were to return to the village.

"I see," the blonde Hokage said after the letter was finished.

"There's one more thing Hokage-sama," she interrupted.

"What's that?"

"Well one of the two Akatsuki members that abducted Gaara," she said pausing with hesitation, not sure if she wanted to tell Minato. "One of the them was Naruto."

Minato's eyes widened in shock. He didn't want to believe his own son would be a member of the Akatsuki. Was it really possible? Did the fight that night really drive Naruto as far as to joining a group of criminals like the Akatsuki? These were only few of the questions that began to infiltrate Minato's mind. Learning of his son's betrayal to Konoha was a low blow but learning that he betrayed Konoha by joining the Akatsuki took the cake. Serious regret was now pouring into his head quicker than his **Hiraishin no Jutsu **_**(Flying Thunder God Technique)**_.

* * *

Team Kakashi and Team Gai stood around Chiyo's grave with Temari, Kankurou and their former sensei Baki.

"Sasuke-san, Sakura-san," called out Lee, "We're leaving soon."

The two nodded as they walked away from the grave. They walked for a while and soon reached the entrance to Sunagakure _(Hidden Sand)_ where they met up with Gaara who had been waiting for them for a few minutes. The Konoha-nin stared with Gaara staring back. No words were exchanged for a while until the usually quiet Gaara spoke up first.

"Thank you."

"It was no problem," quickly replied Kakashi, flashing his usual eye smile.

The Konoha-nin parted ways with the Suna-nin with Gai carrying Kakashi as his body was heavily drained from using his Mangekyou Sharingan too many times in one day. Tenten turned her head and called out to Gai.

"You're slow, sensei."

"Sorry, Gai-kun," apologized Kakashi, "After using the Sharingan I can't move my body."

Though inside Kakashi was protesting the fact Gai was carrying him while the rest of the group looked on in embarrassment.

'_They're both idiots,'_ though Sasuke.

'_I can't believe what I'm seeing. Adults playing piggyback, it's disturbing,'_ thought the pink-haired kunoichi.

Tenten and Neji just looked on in disgust. They just couldn't believe what was happening in front of them. Lee, however, was excited about it as he viewed it as another opportunity of training.

"With you riding on my back, I'll be faster!" exclaimed Gai and turned to the group, "Now can any of you keep up?"

Sakura's face went flat, _'Seeing them in action is actually worse!'_

Lee placed his backpack in front of him as he crouched down before Neji wanting him to get on. The Hyuuga, however, simply told him no.

* * *

"I found it!" exclaimed Hashi as he ran over to his precious sword and picked it up.

"Alright, you got the sword now let's go," Naruto said as he walked off. "Leader-sama is expecting us."

'_Damn arrogant Gaki (Brat), I should kill him with my sword.'_ Hashi decided to hold off killing Naruto. Though Naruto was younger, skill wise Naruto was so much better than he'll ever hope to be. Being trained under Itachi had it's benefits. _'And I got stuck under Sasori just because we were both from the sand.'_

* * *

Kakashi woke up and looked around. The room was all too familiar. Soon he knew exactly where he was, Konoha's hospital.

"This place again, eh?"

At the Hokage Tower, Sakura and Sasuke were standing in front of the Hokage. They just were debriefed on their mission in Suna. They both hesitantly confirmed Naruto's involvement and he was indeed in the Akatsuki's ranks.

Minato sighed as he looked down with sad eyes, "So it's true then, my son is with a group of lowlifes."

"I'm afraid so, Hokage-sama," replied Sakura.

'_Naruto, why?'_

"Alright, now I'm sending you on a mission to Otokagure _(Hidden Sound)_," Minato said.

"Why?" questioned Sasuke.

"Their asking for our help, they're scared because it seems Kabuto has returned with some followers and want to reclaim the Oto from the Fuuma clan," answered the Hokage.

"Kabuto, he's still alive?!" frantically asked Sakura.

"It looks like it," replied Minato. "We all know when Orochimaru, along with his Oto-nin and the ninja from Suna, attacked us, he disappeared after Sandaime-sama helped me kill Orochimaru. After Kabuto disappeared, the Fuuma clan restored themselves and took over Otokagure and became our ally. Now I'm sending you two, along with an acting Team Leader to Oto and help them if Kabuto indeeds attack."

"That extraction was successful enough, I believe we can move on to capturing the next Bijuu, so that will be your job Sasori and Deidara."

"Hai, Leader-sama," the puppet master replied.

"So I have to return to Iwa _(Stone)_, hmm," said Sasori's blonde partner.

"Yes, you're dismissed except Naruto and Hashi."

"We will not fail you, hmm. I'll make sure my art captures us the next Jinchuuriki, hmm," said Deidara as he and his partner left the cave. After the rest of the Akatsuki ended their transmissions in the cave, only Naruto and Hashi stood in front of one last hologram.

"One of Sasori's old underlings is causing trouble. He's got new supporters since Orochimaru's death and I know he will try to take out Akatsuki so I want you two to eliminate him, got it?"

"Yes, Leader-sama," replied Naruto.

"You will need to hide in Rice Country to catch him, because I believe he will try to take back Otogakure soon."

The two nodded and their conversation with the leader ended and he disappeared leaving only the two Akatsuki members.

* * *

Minato continued to look through document after document, signing his name. Sorting through mission request and placing them as D, C, B, A and even S-Rank. Soon someone entered.

"Ah, Jiraiya-sensei, you made it."

"What do you need Minato, I was busy doing research," replied the white-haired male.

"Why am I not surprised?" replied Minato with a slight chuckle.

"What do you need me for anyway?" asked Jiraiya.

"I need you to do something important for me, go find my son."

"You still haven't found him yet!" exclaimed Jiraiya.

Minato shook his head, "Apparently he's joined the Akatsuki."

Jiraiya's eyes widened, "Impossible, I have a lot of information on them, not once did I come across the fact Naruto was with them!"

"Well Kakashi's team has confirmed his involvement with the recent abduction of the Kazekage."

Jiraiya sighed, "It must have been his first assignment then. Very well, I'll go find your kid, talk some sense into him and bring him back."

Minato smiled a bit, "Thank you, Jiraiya-sensei."

Jiraiya walked out of the office while another, wearing a mask, a light blue vest, light blue arm and leg guards walked in.

"Ah, you're here."

"You needed to see me about something, Hokage-sama?" asked the masked ninja.

"I need you to fill in for Kakashi for a bit," replied the Hokage.

"Replace _the_ Kakashi-sempai? That's an honor," replied the masked ninja.

"I'm sure it is." the Hokage smiled then continued, "You won't need your mask since this is not an ANBU mission."

The ANBU member took off his mask off and placed it on the Hokage's desk.

"I'm giving you the codename 'Yamato' for this mission, is that okay with you?" asked Minato.

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Sakura and Sasuke waited outside the Hokage's tower. They were to meet their temporary team leader replacement. Their wait was over as a man stepped out from behind a large pillar and walked a couple of steps and stopped in front of the two Shinobi.

"Who are you?" asked Sasuke rather rudely.

"My name is Yamato, I will be Kakashi's replacement for the time being while we're on this mission to Otokagure."

* * *

**Once again I am sorry for not updating this in such a long time, though this update is only a rewritten chapter 9. I will be sure to update with new chapters on a quicker basis. I kind of got off of writing for a bit as well because of some form of writer's block but I believe I'm back.**


	10. Target In Otokagure

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All I own is the storyline, Hashi and the first names of the Fuuma clan members I mention.

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**10. Target in Otokagure**

The forest was calm until a light breeze picked up, blowing dead leaves across the ground and gently rustle the trees around. It blew through wild blonde hair that belonged to a cloaked man sitting on a rather large rock with his left knee pointed upward with his foot flat on the rock. His left arm was hanging over his knee as his right palm was flat against the boulder while his eyes were closed. Next to him stood another cloaked man with his sword tightly strapped to his back while he looked out to what the hill they were both on was overlooking. Rice Country. Home of Otokagure no Sato _(Hidden Sound Village)_.

"Rice Country, eh?" spoke the man who was standing.

The blonde just nodded while he finally opened his eyes and decided to speak, "We wait in this country for Kabuto to show up and when he does, we kill him."

"What's so important about this Kabuto that Leader-sama wants him dead?"

The blonde continued to stare out while he voiced his answer, "Kabuto was Orochimaru's right hand man. During the Suna _(Sand)_-Oto _(Sound)_/Konoha War, after the Sandaime and my father killed Orochimaru, Kabuto absorbed some of Orochimaru to gain power, it could possibly take over him."

"I still don't see what's important about him," the other replied.

"Acording to Itachi-san, Orochimaru was in the Akatsuki but defected after a failed attempt in taking over Itachi-san's body. Orochimaru was set on destroying the Akatsuki and Konoha, therefore Leader-sama wanted to take out Orochimaru. Kabuto has some of Orochimaru's power so we need to kill him before he attempts an attack on our organization."

"It makes sense now." The man stayed quiet for a while and spoke again, "So Naruto, did Itachi-san really say all that to you?"

The blonde nodded and then stood up from where he was sitting, "Come on Hashi, let's enter the village and wait."

Hashi began to walk with Naruto following right after heading for the main village of Rice Country.

* * *

A white-haired male started looking through a peephole in the bath house and tried to stifle perverted laughter as he scribbled in his notebook. Research is what he called it but it was really just spying on naked women for a smut book entitled 'Icha Icha Paradise _(Come Come Paradise)_. Suddenly the white-haired male was punched in the face with so much force, he found himself one-thousand meters away from the bath house he was spying at.

"You perverted old geezer!" screamed a female voice.

"Oh shit," the white-haired male said recognizing the voice.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Jiraiya?!" said a female with long dirty blonde hair split into two long pony tails wearing a green jacket, grey shirt and black Capri pants. Her brown eyes showed how angry and disgusted she was.

"Tsunade, it's not what you think!" Jiraiya said making his desperate pleas.

"It was what I think it was!" she yelled again.

Jiraiya got up and dusted himself off. "It's time I left anyway, Minato asked me to look for someone so I'll see you around."

Tsunade's anger immediately disappeared as the subject changed and she knew just who he was talking about. "He asked you to look for Naruto, didn't he?"

"Yeah. Apparently Minato's boy joined up with the wrong crowed," replied the Gama _(Toad)_ Sannin.

"What do you mean?" asked the Slug Sannin

"Minato said Naruto has joined the Akatsuki."

"You're lying," Tsunade said.

"According to Minato, Kakashi and his team went on a mission to rescue Gaara after he was kidnapped by the Akatsuki; one of the ones involved was Naruto."

"The short time I've known him, things seemed a bit rough between Naruto and Minato but I never thought he'd join up with the Akatsuki," said Tsunade.

"Well hopefully I can talk some sense into the kid and bring him back for Minato's sake. He's been so depressed since Naruto's defection." said the old pervert. Tsunade nodded in agreement and the two stayed silent for a while, saddened by th enews. Jiraiya finally snapped out of his trace and turned.

"Well I got a kid to bring back, see you when I see you." Soon the Sannin was out of sight.

* * *

Yamato, Sakura and Sasuke entered the village just inside Rice Country. The place was pretty lively, people walking about, shops selling goods at reasonable prices. They didn't look one bit scared of Kabuto returning.

"Ah, you must be the ninja Konoha sent to help keep Kabuto at bay if he plans to try and take back Otokagure _(Hidden Sound)_," said a powerful voice. The Konoha ninja looked toward the direction the voice came from and found a man in about his early thirties with short black hair and black goatee. He was wearing a blue kimono with the Fuuma Clan symbol on the back.

"So you're the leader then, correct?" asked Yamato.

"Hai, my name is Fuuma Mochi, leader of the Fuuma Clan and Otokagure."

"Let us introduce ourselves Mochi-sama, I'm Yamato, Jounin in charge of this three man cell."

"I'm Haruno Sakura, the team's medic-nin," the pink-haired kunoichi said bowing.

"Uchiha Sasuke," the raven-haired boy said rather rudely.

"Nice to meet you all. Come to the estate, you'll be shown your rooms," Mochi said motioning them to follow.

The Konoha-nin followed the Fuuma leader to a massive estate just on the edge of the village. It's size actually impressed the withdrawn Uchiha. Sakura couldn't hardly believe her eyes on how big it was while Yamato didn't show any time of emotion toward the size of the mansion.

"I see you two are taken by how big my home is," said the Fuuma leader.

Sakura nodded while Sasuke barely made a sound. The three ninja followed Mochi inside the massive home. As soon as they entered a large staircase awaited them. The staircase led to more stairs, one going off toward the left side of the mansion and the other led to the right side. Mochi continued onward u p the right side staircase into a massive hallway with about ten doors on each side of the hallway.

"This wing of the mansion is reserved for guests, the first three rooms have been readied for you. Whenever you're ready to discuss business, meet me in the conference hall. It's downstairs to the right," said Mochi pointing to the first door on the right side of the hall. The three ninja nodded and Mochi headed back downstairs. Yamato picked the first room and Sasuke chose the second. Sakura opened the door to the third room and was amazed how big the bed was.

'_Damn, that bed can fit a least eight people on it,' _she mentally remarked. The room had the bare essentials: the large bed, the nightstand with a lamp and a dresser with a large mirror with a designed gold frame. Sakura knew she was in heaven as soon as she saw that mirror.

* * *

After twenty minutes of getting settled in their rooms in the Fuuma mansion, the three ninja finally made their way to the conference room where Mochi and two other people were waiting.

"Oh hello, glad you could finally come see us," joked the Fuuma leader. The two other people in the room chuckled a bit and bowed to the Konoha ninja.

"Let me introduce you to my advisers, this is Fuuma Kakushi," Mochi began pointing to a man on the right who had short brown hair and was wearing battle armor underneath a white trench coat and a black headband around his head with a metal plate that had a music note, representing he was an Otokagure ninja. Mochi then pointed to the male to his left with long black hair tied back with his bangs pushed behind his ears wearing the same type of battle armor underneath an open black and white kimono. He had two small katana strapped to his back, "And this is Fuuma Kitsu."

The two bowed again with the Konoha-nin bowing back.

"Alright, what exactly is the situation?" asked Yamato.

"Well there's been reports that Yakushi Kabuto has been spotted around Rice Country with four people following him too."

"Reports?" questioned the ANBU turned team leader, "You mean there's no real proof?"

"Unfortunately no there is not, but we wanted to be safe than sorry. Rice Country along with the Fuuma Clan do not want that tyrant's right hand man back here," said Mochi.

"When you say tyrant, you mean Orochimaru, right?" asked Yamato.

Mochi nodded, "Ever since Orochimaru disappeared along with Kabuto, Rice Country returned to peace and prosperity."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow then actually spoke, "You don't know?"

"What do you mean?" asked Mochi.

"Orochimaru was killed two and half years ago, that's why Kabuto disappeared too," replied the Uchiha.

"Well that's good news then. We don't have to worry about that bastard freak of nature returning but we still want Kabuto out of the picture too," answered Mochi.

"Very well, we'll patrol and if we find Kabut and these four others, we'll take them out," Yamato said. Mochi bowed and the Konoha-nin exited the conference room and walked outside the mansion. Yamato then turned to Sakura and Sasuke.

"We still have some daylight left, I want you two to scout on your own. If you find Kabuto in this village then find me and we'll take him out as a team, got it?" ordered Yamato. The two nodded and all three leapt off into different directions.

* * *

Naruto and Hashi were sitting in a small outdoor café where they sipped on tea cups. It had been an hour since they entered the village to wait. They watched people passing by on the sidewalk near the café, most were wearing Oto forehead protectors. It seemed weird to Naruto since Oto used to be under Orochimaru but he was here for a reason and it wasn't to remember the old days, it was to find Kabuto and eliminate him before he became a threat to the Akatsuki. This was going to be a long boring task.

"Alright, I'm going to go scout, I assume you'll stay here." _'Since I'm the one that does all the work,'_ said Hashi while he finished the rest of the sentence in his mind.

"Fair enough," replied Naruto. In fact, Naruto was just about to get up and scout but if Hashi wanted to do it, then that was fine by Naruto. Either way, they needed to find Kabuto quickly, eliminate him and remove any trace of his existence before anyone got suspicious of the two.

Hashi disappeared in the horizon while Naruto continued to sip his tea calmly.

Sakura walked through the streets looking around to see if she could spot Kabuto. It was very unlikely he would be in the village itself but you never know. He did manage to infiltrate Konoha as a spy before that invasion after all so he'd be able to do it again, especially since this was his old village.

* * *

Hashi roof-hopped through the village until he spotted something in the streets, a raven-haired boy with the Konoha insignia on his forehad.

'_Shit, Konoha's here too. I better go back and tell Naruto.'_

* * *

Sakura continued her treck through the village, trying not to be noticed so she'd have a better chance at spotting the grey-haired weirdo here. She turned the corner and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of wild blonde hair and the black cloak with the red clouds across it sitting in a café a little ways up the street.

'_It's Naruto, that means the Akatsuki are here too! I have to tell Yamato-teichou.'_

Sakura turned to find Yamato when her emerald eyes met with distant sapphire eyes. Naruto was standing before her. Just how the hell did he do that? She wanted to question it but the words got stuck in her throat before they even found their way to her tongue. He stood their, staring at her with his almost dead eyes. Her eyes showed her fear, surprise and sadness. Tears were threatening to form in her eyes and she tried desperately to fight them off. There was no way in hell she was going to cry today, no way in hell. Then the dead blue eyes of Naruto softened which surprised her.

"Sakura-chan." he whispered. Her eyes widened, back in the Gaara Rescue mission, he just said her name without a care but here with just him and her, he said with care and even added the 'chan' suffix which he had left out with their bitter reunion.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned her. Tears formed and began falling out of her eyes. She looked up at him with those sad, crying eyes and said that one three letter word.

"Why?"

Naruto looked around to see if she was alone or any sign of Hashi. He then turned back to her.

"What I'm about to tell you is an S-Class Secret, only four other people know this so promise me that you won't tell a single soul about what I'm about to say, ok?" whispered Naruto. She nodded and he led her to a secure location and began to talk.

* * *

The sun was getting low and the three Konoha-nin met back up in front of the mansion all saying they didn't find anything. Sakura, who didn't show any emotion on her face but she was relieved now than ever and didn't say another word and walked into her room.

* * *

Naruto continued to walk down the street when finally Hashi appeared before him.

"There you are you son of a bitch, I've been looking all over this damn town for you."

Naruto just stared at him with an unreadable look. "So?"

"I spotted a Konoha ninja here," Hashi relayed the information to his blonde partner.

"Not surprising," replied Naruto, seemingly not caring.

"What do we do?" asked Hashi who was screaming at himself mentally. _'Look at me! Asking him what to do like he's my boss, I'm fucking older than him!'_

"Let it be, we're not here to fight Konoha, we're here to find Kabuto and eliminate him," the blonde said while he continued to walk while Hashi stayed put.

"Are you sure about that? What if they find us here and attack?" asked Hashi, he just wanted to kill someone with his sword, that's all it really was.

"We retreat, we're not here to get ourselves killed," replied Naruto who was now getting annoyed with Hashi's questions.

Hashi wanted to kill Naruto to relieve the frustration the blonde was causing him, of course that would be viewed as a betrayal of the Akatsuki and thus be killed as well so he backed off, but it still pissed him off nonetheless. Meanwhile, in the shadows of the forest overlooking Otogakure, the moonlight shined off glasses of a grey-haired ninja with a smirk on his face watching and waiting. Four other dark silhouettes of three males and a female appeared behind the grey-haired man.

"Soon we'll be ready to take back Otokagure from the Fuuma clan and restore it to the way that Orochimaru-sama had it."

The other four chuckled bitterly and all five then disappeared into the night.

* * *

**Well I finally got around to updating, sorry it took so long. I just got wrapped up in other things. Now I know where I want to take this arc of the story. Hopefully I will update more often then I have been. I thought my own writer's block was over when I rewrote chapter 9 but I guess it wasn't. So with having writer's block and other stuff I gotten wrapped up in I didn't have time to update. Well now I'm back I hope, if I don't get busy again.**


	11. One of the Underlings

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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**11. One of the Underlings**

The sun rose above Otokagure, revealing the village from the darkness it was under from the cover of night. People began to stir and take to the streets for another long day. The Konoha ninja got an early start and began to scout around outside the village. Three days past since Sakura's run in with Naruto and still no sign of their target. The pink-haired kunoichi was starting to wonder if this whole thing was just a hoax. Her thoughts turned back to the things Naruto had told her. She couldn't believe it even if she wanted to, it sounded all surreal. Suddenly she was brough out of her thoughts.

"I don't think Kabuto is any where near this village," Sasuke said to no one particular but it was enough for Sakura to hear.

"It has been three days," replied the medic-nin. While the two were walking down the path, Hashi was hiding in the tree overheard the two ninja's small conversation.

'_So they're after Kabuto as well,'_ and he disappeared quickly in the forest.

* * *

Naruto stood on a hill letting the breeze hit his face. He let out a content sigh and opened his eyes to see the famous rice paddies of the country.

"Three days have past," the blonde whispered to himself, "And still nothing."

He was about to continue his little trek through the rice paddies when he heard a slight rustle within the trees. He gave the direction a sideways glance to avoid being spotted and noticed a quick figure pass through the trees. Even though it was a quick glance, he immediately recognized that the person wasn't a member of the Fuuma clan.

'_Maybe he'll lead me to Kabuto.'_

Naruto waited a bit then silently followed.

* * *

He was waiting on a hill nearby. The air was calm and the sun shining down on hi. He wore a beige cloak and covered his face from view. Then another one in a beige hooded cloak came to a stop behind the man.

"Kabuto-sama, we'll be ready for attack at dusk," the male voice said.

Kabuto's face came into the light with a sickening grin. "Good, we will destroy the Fuuma clan and take back Otokagure as our own once again."

Naruto watched as the man he was following disappeared and kept his eyes on Kabuto and watched his every move. Kabuto started walking down the hillside he was waiting and Naruto quietly followed suit. Kabuto reached an abandoned farm house and barn, he looked around and went inside. Naruto stood on the hillside and watched Kabuto walk inside the farm house and look around as if he was bored but he was scoping out the land.

'_I believe I found his hideout, I have to find a way to get Kabuto alone,'_ he mentally noted and began to walk away and began thinking up strategies that would suit his situation.

* * *

Night had finally fallen. The busy village that was Oto had started settling down. The Konoha-nin had another long day of searching around the country for any sign of Kabuto. No luck once again. Yamato was starting to believe this was just a wild goose chase and nothing wasn't going to come up. Sasuke was growing tired of this time wasting mission. He wanted to return home so he could train himself so he'd be ready when he finally faced Itachi. The more they searched the more the felt like this was all a hoax.

"We're going to search for one more day," Yamato said, breaking the silence. "If nothing turns up then, we'll have to call the mission a hoax and return to the village."

"About time," replied Sasuke.

"Because I don't believe we're going to find anything," Yamato continued, choosing to ignore Sasuke's rash comment.

Sakura hadn't said much since her run in with Naruto a couple of days ago. Yamato had finally picked up on it as he watched her just stare out the window. The three ninja were sitting in the conference room along as they debriefed today's results and focused on the agenda for tomorrow. Yamato just had to ask.

"Something troubling you Sakura?" asked Yamato, "You've been unusually quiet for the last few days."

Sakura was in deep thought when Yamato turned his attention to the pinkette, she turned around quickly as if she was slightly startled, "Huh? What?"

"I said, is something troubling you, Sakura?" Yamato asked again. "You've been awfully quiet lately."

"Oh, no, nothing's wrong, I've just had a lot on my mind about this mission," lied Sakura.

"You're lying," said Yamato.

Sakura sighed, she was caught red handed. She questioned herself. Should she tell Yamato about her encounter with Naruto? Or should she come up with something and try to pass it off as believable this time? She decided not to tell Yamato about her encounter with Naruto and went with something she'd hope he'd believe.

"Alright, the truth is I still can't process the fact that Naruto is in the Akatsuki," she lied again hoping, no praying Yamato would believe her this time and leave the subject be.

"Ah, I see," Yamato said. However, Yamato did not believe Sakura was telling the truth but decided to let it go. If she was going to tell the truth, he'd let her do it when she was ready to do so.

Sakura sighed in relief, thanking Kami that Yamato believed her.

"Alright, I think our meeting is done," said Yamato getting up from the chair he was sitting on. "Let's get some rest, we have one more long day ahead of us."

The two Chuunin's nodded and all three of the ninjas walked out of the conference room, up the stairs and into their respective rooms.

* * *

Four hooded cloaked figures stood over Otokagure. They watched it as the busyness that was the village started windling down. The figures were human and they were waiting, waiting for the word to attack. They believed they were strong enough to take out Otokagure on their own with no need of a massive army. Once Oto fell, they'd let the survivors live and become ninja under their rule. Finally a fifth cloaked figure appeared before them.

"Kabuto-sama," said one of the males.

"Well I hate to say this but something just came up," said Kabuto, "I have to go to the Tenchi Bridge and meet up with my former master."

"So we have to fucking wait to attack now?" asked the female of the group.

"Yes, this old master is a member of the Akatsuki, I must eliminate him," replied Kabuto. "Be paitent, before you know it, we'll have crushed this new Otokagure and make it our own."

The group let out frustrated sighs but acknowledged the fact their new master had some unfinished business to take care of.

"I'll be back in three days, after that then we'll engage our attack on Otokagure," said Kabuto as he turned around and walked into the night. Kabuto's four subordinates all walked away in different directions.

Naruto was sitting in a tree nearby, he didn't hear what was said because he was a little too far away from hearing range. He watched as the four underlings of Kabuto walked in different directions. He picked out the weak one and waited before he followed.

* * *

Two black cloaked males had been traveling through the night. One looked as if he were hunched over and sliding across the ground. Most of the trip was in silence as the two continued to their destination, Kumogakure _(Hidden Cloud)_ to pick up the two-tailed Jinchuuriki. The hunched over Akatsuki stopped and started to walk in another direction. His partner failed to notice his change in direction right away.

"Hey! Kumo is this way, hmm!" yelled the male.

The partner stopped for a second before replying. "I have to make as top first."

"A stop?" questioned the other, "Sasori, my man, I thought you hated making people wait? Hmm."

"I do hate it," replied Sasori, "But Deidara, this must come first."

Deidara didn't say another thing and walked over to Sasori and the two began to walk in the direction Sasori chose first.

"Where are we going? Hmm." asked Deidara.

"Kusagakure _(Hidden Grass)_, to Tenchi Bridge," answered Sasori. "I need to meet up with a subordinate first."

Deidara nodded, "But Sasori, my man, this constitutes Leader-sama waiting, hmm."

"As much as I hate making people wait," began Sasori, "This is something that must be done."

* * *

Naruto stealthily followed the grey cloaked male to see where he would go. Soon as the man stopped to rest, Naruto would engage him and get the information he needed so he could further pursue Kabuto. As the night went on, Naruto was starting to believe his target was never going to stop and rest or even knew he was being followed. However, his luck changed when his target finally jumped down from the trees and sat down under the moonlight to rest. This was his chance to ambush the unsuspecting target.

"Phew," said the grey cloaked male to himself. "I think I'll just rest here tonight."

He closed his eyes for maybe a moment and quickly opened them wide and jumped. As soon as his body was cleared from the tree he was resting against, several kunai and shurikien embedded themselves into the trunk. The male landed back on the ground and frantically started looking around.

"Whoever's there come out!" he demanded.

"Where did Kabuto run off to?" asked a voice from behind him. The target turned around to see Naruto looking at him with cold eyes. He quickly turned his full body and slid a few feet back.

"Like I'd ever tell you!" he said.

Naruto recognized the face of his target. "Kidomaru, former member of the Sound Four. I remember seeing you that day your 'glorious' leader tried to destroy my former home."

"Wow, you know my name," said Kidomaru, unimpressed, "I'm honored."

"I know you're not as strong as you were when Orochimaru was still alive since the curse mark disappeared at his death," said Naruto not moving from his spot, not even intimidated by Kidomaru. "I'm going to ask you for the last time, where did Kabuto go?"

"Well let me give you an answer," replied Kidomaru as he spit out what looked like a yellow boomerang and quickly threw it at Naruto. Naruto didn't jump or step out of the way, he took the hit. In fact, as soon as it hit Naruto, he dispersed into a cloud of smoke.

"So it was a **Kage Bunshin **_**(Shadow Replication)**_," Kidomaru said as he looked around again. Suddenly he felt hands wrap around his ankle.

"**Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu **_**(Earth Release: Double Suicide Decaptiation Technique)**_!" a voice from underground yelled as Kidomaru was pulled underneath the earth. The only thing that was showing from Kidomaru was his head as Naruto stood over him.

"I see it now, I didn't notice when you were standing in the dark but I see, you're a member of the Akatsuki," said Kidomaru.

"Cut the shit." said Naruto, "Now that I have you trapped, where did Kabuto go? I know you treasure your life and want to live so I'll give you that option if you tell me."

"Do you really have me trapped?" asked Kidomaru, trying to get Naruto to let down his guard in some way.

"Of course," replied Naruto. "Enough of your games, tell me now!"

Kidomaru just smirked as the ground started to crack around him. Naruto stepped back and watched as six more arms came into his view. The earch cracked to pieces as Kidomaru used his other six arms to get himself out of the ground. He punched on Naruto and started beating him with all eight of his arms. Kidomaru sent one last punch into Naruto's face causing him to start spiraling through the air. Kidomaru wasn't done as he began making something within his mouth and shot it at Naruto. It was spider webbing and it trapped Naruto around a nearby tree.

"You're really weak for being in the Akatsuki," mocked Kidomaru "Time for the finishing move."

Kidomaru pulled a long curved yellow stick out of his mouth. Then he pulled out another, this time it was straight and pointed at the end. He had made a bow and arrow.

"This one doesn't miss," began Kidomaru. "This one has one-hundred percent accuracy!"

Kidomaru placed the arrow onto his bow and pulled it back. Once he had the right aim for Naruto's heart, he shot the arrow. It soared through the air and penetrated into Naruto's heart as quick as it was fired. Kidomaru had a reassuring and confident smirk on is face thinking he had won the battle as quick as he did. He was proved wrong when the Naruto he though he killed dispersed into smoke, signaling it was another **Kage Bunshin**.

"What?!" yelled Kidomaru, "Another damn **Kage Bunshin**! You're really pushing my buttons!"

Naruto was no where to be found. In fact he was in the trees up above Kidomaru accessing his opponent's strengths and weaknesses and came up with the perfect attack. As quick as Naruto studied his opponent he created another **Kage Bunshin** and sat in the tree branch he was standing on and closed his eyes and began concentrating on something. The **Kage Bunshin** he made was the special one he used back when he tried to escape the clutches of Team Gai after extracting Gaara's Bijuu. In a few minutes, the battle would be over.

"Where are you hiding?" taunted Kidomaru, "Come on out."

As soon as he asked the question, a fist was in his face. Kidomaru stumbled backwards then fell to the ground. He looked up to see Naruto standing before him with the same look he had before.

"You shouldn't be giving me that look," said Kidomaru, "Especially when you're about to die."

"You're the one that's about to die," replied Naruto.

Kidomaru created another arrow and pulled it out from his mouth and loaded it on his bow. He fired it straight at Naruto who just stood still. The projectile went straight through the heart of Naruto. However, no blood came out of the wound.

Kidomaru's eyes widened in shock, "What the…? You should be bleeding to death." _'Shit, this is a __**Kage Bunshin**__ but it's no ordinary __**Kage Bunshin**__, it didn't disperse.'_

"You're end is near," Naruto said.

Kidomaru began shooting his one-hundred percent accuracy arrows continuously at the Naruto in front of him. All the projectiles hit vital spots on his body, however no blood was leaking from the wounds and Naruto still stood there. Kidomaru was getting frustrated and wished he had his curse mark so he could over power this freak. Soon the clone dispersed and another Naruto fell from the trees above.

"I see you finally returned to meet your death," said Kidomaru as he got ready to shoot another projectile. Naruto did not answer back and Kidomaru shot another one of his arrows. Just before the arrow struck, another Naruto appeared out of the Naruto standing on the ground. The arrow pierced the Naruto on the ground, taking with it Naruto intro the tree where Naruto dispersed. Kidomaru looked up and shot another Naruto arrow at Naruto in the air. Again, another Naruto appeared to the side and the arrow hit the other beside him, taking the **bunshin **into the trees above where it dispersed. Kidomaru was now getting frustrated even more as he could not land a hit on the real Naruto. Another arrow was shot and the same thing happened again, another Naruto appeared below the **bunshin** and the arrow hit it and dispersed it. Kidomaru tried one last time and this time success. The arrow pierced right through Naruto's heart. Kidomaru was sure he had won. However, the real Naruto was in the trees above, he finally opened his eyes and instead of blue eyes, they were now green, toad-like eyes and quickly disappeared.

The Naruto who was pierced with the arrow dispersed. The whole time Kidomaru was shooting at **Kage Bunshin** after **Kage Bunshin**. Kidomaru looked around for any sign of Naruto.

"Alright, where the hell did you go?" asked Kidomaru, shouting.

Kidomaru's question was answered. Naruto was coming up from behind with a bright ball of spiraling chakra in his hand in the shape of a very large shuriken and he threw it.

"**Fuuton: Rasenshuriken **_**(Wind Release: Rasenshuriken)**_!" Naruto yelled as the spiraling ball of charka shuriken spun toward Kidomaru.

When Kidomaru heard Naruto yell, he turned around to find a spiraling ball of charka hit him square in the chest. As soon as the jutsu hit Kidomaru, the area lit up and gusts of wind began to blow from the force of the collision as it de-rooted trees from the area. As fast as the destruction began, it finally stopped and Kidomaru fell to the ground covered in blood. Naruto walked over to the body and stood there. Kidomaru was still alive.

"H-how'd you.." Kidomaru tried to ask.

"I hid in the trees to gather natural chakra," explained Naruto. "I used Senjutsu so I could defeat you quick. Now tell me, where did Kabuto go?"

"T-tenchi bridges in Kusagakure," Kidomaru answered. It was his last words and died from the severity of the jutsu Naruto had just used. Naruto turned and walked away.

* * *

Hashi was asleep under a tree. He had a long day of searching for this Kabuto. He strongly suggested that Naruto look only today had he been the only one who worked the day before but Naruto wouldn't have any of it, the were to both look for Kabuto. He awoke to being kicked in the leg, he quickly got into a fighting stance only to find it was Naruto.

"Hey! What's with the rude awakening?" Hashi complained.

"We're leaving," replied Naruto.

"Leaving to wear?"

"Kusagakure, where Tenchi Bridge is located," answered Naruto. "That's where Kabuto will be."

Hashi sighed in relief, "Finally," and Hashi grabbed his sword and poured chakra into it to make it small enough to travel with. With the location where Kabuto now known, the two Akatsuki members were off.

* * *

**Thanks to everyone who stuck around with the story over my long break. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	12. Change in the Mission! Tenchi Bridge!

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Naruto.**

**Here's another chapter as I'm trying to update as much as I can before I move tomorrow. Once I move, updates will be slowed to possibly once a week. Once I have internet hooked up at my new place, updates will speed up again so please bear with me.**

**The first post of this chapter was a rough draft to tie you over. This is the final draft with parts reworded and mistakes corrected so enjoy.**

* * *

**12. Change in the Mission! Off to Tenchi Bridge!**

The sun rose once more over Otokagure _(Hidden Sound)_. People began to awake from their slumbers as their days were about to begin. Back at the Fuuma mansion, Yamato was the first to be up. He quickly got dressed into his Jounin uniform and exited his room. He knocked on the first room after his loudly. Without having to say anything, Sasuke came out of the room dressed and ready to go. Yamato then knocked on the third door down from his room. Immediately Sakura exited her room fully clothed. They were ready for action once again and headed downstairs. Waiting for them at the bottom of the stairwell was Fuuma Mochi, the leader of the Fuuma clan and head ninja to Otokagure.

"I hope you really find something today," said Mochi, "The Villagers and my ninja are very anxious and a bit scared of a return from Orochimaru's right hand man."

Yamato sighed. "I know you are and I hate to tell you this but if we do not find anything today, I'll have to label this mission a hoax and return to the village."

"I understand," sighed Mochi. "I better let you go now so hopefully you'll find something today."

"We'll try our best, Mochi-sama," said Yamato and the three ninja left.

* * *

"Are you sure you could trust that underling?" asked Hashi. The two Akatsuki members in charge of finding and eliminating Kabuto were walking through the forest. They had been traveling since night.

"He was sincere about it before his death," replied Naruto who was tired of all of Hashi questions about the fight he had with Kidomaru. Hashi knew he was annoying Naruto but did it anyway as a punishment for bossing him around lately.

* * *

Sakura exited the village and entered the forest to begin her search. She had her radio on to let her other teammates know if she had found anything. They were not to engage the target unless all three of them were together and attack as a team. Three on one odds are better than just one on one, especially with Kabuto involved. She continued to search around her surroundings for anything at all. While looking to the side, she lost her footing as she fell inside a huge crater in the earth. Once she got back up on her feet she noticed a body lying in the middle, dead. She walked over to it and found a man with eight arms lying dead, covered in blood.

'_Oh my god, what is this?'_

She remembered the face before but couldn't quite place it. She analyzed his injuries and her eyes widened.

'_These injuries were caused by one of Naruto's jutsu.'_

Naruto was one that killed this man. Maybe this guy led him to Kabuto and so she got on the radio.

"Yamato-teichou?" she called over the radio.

"Hai, Sakura, what did you find?" his voice asked over the radio.

"I found a dead body with eight arms," she said.

"Eight arms?" Yamato questioned and was silent for a bit. "The only man with eight arms I know of is Kidomaru, a former member of the Sound Four."

"Well if this is Kidomaru, he's probably working for Kabuto," added Sakura. "Also his injuries, they are very similar to that of a jutsu Naruto created."

"Oi, Naruto?" questioned Yamato. "If that is an injury caused by Naruto's jutsu, then the Akatsuki are after Kabuto as well."

Sakura was just pretending to barely find out Naruto had been in Otokagure so she wouldn't give it away that she already knew if the other two found out later and as that played out in her mind she began to analyze Kidomaru again and noticed remains of a grey cloak. The grey cloak was nothing like the clothes she remembered the Fuuma clan and the rest of Otokagure were wearing and that's when she figured it out.

"Yamato-teichou, I figured out how we can find out Kabuto's whereabouts," Sakura said moments later.

"I'm listening," replied Yamato.

"We need to find someone wearing a grey cloak. That is what this body is wearing and I believe it's nothing like what the Fuuma clan wears," Sakura explained.

"Good idea," said Yamato. "Sakura, Sasuke, meet me back at the village enterance, we'll search together."

"Hai," was the reply of both the chuunin over the radio waves.

* * *

Fifteen minutes passed since Sakura discovered the bloodied body of Kidomaru and she was the first to arrive at the village gate. She didn't have to wait too long as Sasuke showed up minutes later. Yamato was the last to show up but it wasn't much after Sasuke.

"Alright Sakura, first off take us to the body of Kidomaru, maybe that will lead us to another one of these grey cloaked subordinates," Yamato said. Sakura nodded and the three ninja were off.

It only took fifteen minutes to get to the spot of destruction. Yamato was amazed by the area of distruction. _'This is no doubt caused by Naruto's technique.'_

**Flashback:**

_He watched as Naruto and Sakura along with Pakkun run through the forest trying to find Sasuke who went after Gaara. They had just come up against a Oto-nin and threw Naruto at the way and was now about to go after Sakura._

"_Die little girl," said the Oto-nin but before he could do anything, something hard hit him in the back._

"_**Fuuton: Rasenshuriken (Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken)**__!"_ _yelled Naruto._

**End of Flashback.**

He remembered the entire area within a one mile radius was completely decimated by the sheer force of the attack.

"I was right, this is Kidomaru,." said Yamato bring himself out of his thoughts and staring at the body, "And this was caused by Naruto's jutsu which means we'll have to be extra careful now that the Akatsuki are involved too."

Before the other two could answer, they heard a voice yell from above the crater.

"What the fuck is this?!" yelled a woman wearing a grey cloak with red hair. The three ninja turned around to see her. Luck was on their side, instead of searching for anyone wearing a grey cloak, they came to them.

"Did you bitches kill Kidomaru?!" she demanded.

"No, we didn't," replied Yamato. "We just found the body today, apparently he was killed by a member of the Akatsuki."

"Where is Kabuto?" demanded Sasuke.

"Huh? Kabuto you ask? Like I'd tell you pricks anything!" she yelled and bit her thumb and quickly went through hand seals.

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu **_**(Summoning Technique)**_!" she yelled and slammed the palm of her hand into the ground. She quickly dug into her pocket and pulled out a flute. After the smoke cleared, three huge human-looking beasts appeared. All three had bandages wrapped around their heads and even covered their eyes. They were merely puppets to be used by the sound of music.

"I see, you're Tayuya, former member of the Sound Four," said Yamato after analyzing the Jutsu.

"So you fucking know my name," cursed Tayuya. "I don't give a fuck because I'll still kill you jackasses!"

She put the flute to her mouth and began playing it. The three human-like beasts went on the offensive. Yamato and his team were now forced to go on the defensive to keep from getting attacked by these human-like beasts. Sasuke's eyes turned from black to red with three tomoe in each eye, he had activated Sharingan and read the movements of the beast that was attacking him.

"That's right you little rats!" Tayuya taunted as she watched her musical puppets attack the three Konoha-nin.

They continued to dodge attack after attack from the beasts. Sasuke looked at Tayuya and realized how she was controlling them as he read the movements from her fingertips on the flute. _'That's it!'_

Sasuke quickly went through hand seals and stopped at the sign of the tiger, "**Katon: Goukyu no Jutsu **_**(Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)**_!"

Sasuke exhaled to form a large fireball and aimed it at the three human musical puppets. The flames hit their bodies but did not destroy them but of course for Sasuke, it created a distraction so the three could hide for at least a bit.

"Dumbasses, that's not how you're going to defeat me!" exclaimed Tayuya.

The three Konoha-nin managed to hide from Tayuya and her musical puppets, this was Sasuke's opportunity to tell them what was going on.

"Alright, I read her movements with her summons," Sasuke began. "She controls them by playing different notes. If we can make her lose the flute, she cannot attack with those puppets of hers. Sakura, you have the strength to knock those puppets clear out of the way to make way so you can give her a nice punch to the face. Yamato, do you have any jutsu that could trap or even destroy the flute so she can't use it anymore?"

"I sure do," replied Yamato.

"Good, then I'll attack her from behind with my **Chidori**, that's the plan, got it?" asked Sasuke.

"Got it!" Sakura replied and Sauske leaped off out of sight. Sakura stood up and came out of hiding. Tayuya noticed her right away.

"Alright little rat, you're mine!" she said playing a note. The big brute that was carrying a club went after Sakura. She pumped chakra into her hand, dodged the club and slammed her fist into the human-like beats torso. It flew through the air and slammed into the other two puppets and they crashed into the ground. Sakura didn't waste any time as she slammed her fist into the side of Tayuya's face.

"What the fuck?!" exclaimed Tayuya as the force of the blow made her flute fall of out of her grasp now it was Yamato's turn.

"**Mokuton: Mokusho no Jutsu _(Wood Release: Wood Prison Technique_**)!" yelled Yamato as wood formed out of the ground and imprisoned Tayuya's flute so she could not get it back.

"Damn it, you bastards!" yelled Tayuya as she got back up from being punched in the face by Sakura. Tayuya was about to curse more but was silenced when she heard what sounded like a bunch of chirping birds.

"**Chidori**!" yelled Sasuke as she slammed the electric-based attack into her back but making sure not to kill her just yet. Tayuya fell over as her wound was severely bleeding.

"Now tell us, where is Kabuto?" demanded Sasuke.

Tayuya knew she was defeated and dying. "Tenchi Bridge," she replied but wouldn't say anymore full prepared for her death that was coming.

Sasuke began charging up another **Chidori** and was about to put it through her heart when Yamato placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't, she's already dying from her blood loss," said Yamato. "You don't need to over do it."

Sasuke listened and the **Chidori** forming in his hand disappeared. Tayuya coughed up blood and soon she died from her loss of blood. Her body fell over onto the ground as the Konoha-nin turned and left the scene. Two of Kabuto's subordinates that had been killed, one by Akatsuki and the other by Konoha. Sakura looked at the **Mokusho **Yamato created, she would question Yamato about it later.

* * *

The Konoha-nin returned to the Fuuma mansion. They were tired from their battle but all in all they were okay. It was quiet within the house as they waited for anyone to come back. A short time later a servant walked by and Yamato spoke up.

"Uh, excuse me, can you tell Mochi-sama that we need to talk to him about something?" asked Yamato.

"Sure, I'll get him right now," replied the young lady with a smile and walked into the next room. A few minutes passed and soon Mochi walked into the room where the Konoha-nin waited.

"Ah Yamato-san, did you find anything?" asked Mochi.

"As a matter of fact we do," answered Yamato. "We found and killed one of Kabuto's subordinates and she gave us a location of where he is at."

"Oh that's great!" exclaimed Mochi. "I'm so glad you found him."

"You don't have to worry about your village because Kabuto isn't even in Rice Country," added Yamato. "We were told he was going to Tenchi Bridge which is located in Kusagakure _(Hidden Grass)_."

"Well, that's even better news!" replied Mochi.

"Yes, we must return to Konoha and deliver this news to our Hokage to see what shall be done next," continued Yamato.

"Very well," said Mochi as he handed Yamato his payment for the mission. "I am just so glad the threat is over, thank you so much. Send my regards to your Hokage, will you?"

"Very well," replied Yamato taking the money from Mochi. "And thank you for you hospitality and letting us stay here at the Fuuma mansion."

"Oh no need to thank me, I was glad to have you all here," replied Mochi.

Yamato and Mochi shook hands and the Konoha-nin began their trek back home.

* * *

Jiraiya was sitting underneath a tree nearby Otokagure. He didn't know about Konoha's mission but he had watched Sakura, Yamato and Saskue fight Tayuya. Earlier, he overheard Sakura's explaination of Kidomaru's injuries and heard Naruto's name come up. He gathered his information and now he was resting before he'd take a little trip to Kusagakure to find Naruto and bring his butt home.

'_So Naruto, I just might see you again for the first time since the Chuunin Exams. Be prepared boy because I'm going to beat it into you to come home.'_

* * *

It only took half a day to get to Konoha. Yamato, Sakura and Sasuke were a bit tired but they were happy to be home. The only thing they were afraid of is that the Hokage would send them off again to pursue Kabuto in Kusagakure. They entered the village and quickly headed for the Hokage Tower. Once they were there, they quickly went to the Hokage's personal office because that's where he was at the moment doing the one thing he absolutely _loved_, paperwork. There was a knock at the door.

"Yes, come in," said the Hokage. Yamato, Sakura and Sasuke walked into the office. "Ah, Yamato, Sakura, Sasuke. Well what's the word."

"Well Hokage-sama, after four days of searching he finally found out that Kabuto wasn't in Rice Country. He was at one time but left to Kusagakure in search of Tenchi Bridge, according to one of his subordinates we killed earlier today. So the threat has been neutralized," briefed Yamato.

"Good," said Minato. "However, Kabuto is still alive and still a threat. I'm going to go ahead and let you pursue him. Get to Kusagakure immediately and eliminate him!"

"Hai, Hokage-sama," said Yamato as they turned and left the office.

"Alright everyone, go home to change quickly and return to the village gate within twenty minutes, got it?" asked Yamato.

Sakura and Sasuke both nodded and the team split up momentarily. Twenty minutes later, the three were back together at the village gate.

"Okay guys, it's going to take almost two and half days to get there," said Yamato. "Let's try to get there as quick as we can, there's no telling how long Kabuto will actually stay in Kusa."

The two Chuunin nodded and soon they were headed off to Kusagakure.

* * *

Kabuto crossed the border into Kusa territory. He still had another day or so before he had to be at Tenchi Bridge near Kusagakure but he went through once again what he had to do, eliminate his former master.

'_I must kill him as the Akatsuki are a threat to me. Eventually they'll send someone to kill me because I still hold some of Orochimaru-sama's power.'_

Kabuto decided to take a short break before heading out.

* * *

Deidara and Sasori came to the border into Kusa. They had been traveling for quite a while and saw that there was a village in the distance.

"Come Deidara," said Sasori. "We'll rest in that village and continue in the morning."

"Good, my feet were starting to get tired, hmm," replied Deidara.

The two crossed passed the border and shortly they were in the village. The village didn't seem to recognize their outfit which was good for them. They found a nearby inn where they checked in and got separate rooms so they could sleep and rest before setting back out again to Tenchi Bridge.

* * *

Yamato, Sakura and Sasuke leaped from tree to tree with no signs of slowing down. They wanted to get to Kusa as quick as they possibly could so they did not miss their opportunity to assassinate Kabuto. They didn't know how long he would be there or even if he was still there at all when they did reach Kusa. As for Sakura, there was only one thing on her mind and that was Naruto. If what Naruto told her four days ago was true, then why was he after Kabuto? She just had to know.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. For the two that reviewed, thank you.**


	13. Tenchi Bridge! Kabuto VS Everyone!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**I know it's been over three years since I've updated, but for a while I lost interest in writing for a long time. I even lost interest in fanfiction for a while as well until recently when I found a story that gave me inspiration to write again, with that inspiration I got over my writer's block for this arc and now I know what direction I want this arc to go. Although I can't guarantee frequent updates because I want to focus on writing chapters over time rather than quickly just to get them up. I want to take my time with them and perfect them as much as I can.**

* * *

**13. Battle on Tenchi Bridge! Kabuto VS Yamato and Sasuke!**

Daylight was burning, or that's what Yamato thought as he, along with Sakura and Sasuke hurried along to get to the border of Fire and Grass countries. They were trying to make good timing but hustling through the woods was a bad idea. Now here they are, resting underneath a huge oak tree. A light breeze rustled through its leaves, allowing some of the paddle shaped leaves fall to the ground. Sasuke was sitting up against the oak with his eyes closed. Yamato, who was standing next to him, looked off into the distant. You could definately tell he was annoyed by the fact that their taking a break when very well Kabuto can be out of grasp. Sakura, however, had something else on her mind. Since they had left Konoha and begain this mission to intercept Kabuto at Tenchi Bridge, she wasn't completely focused on the task at hand. Nope, she was worrying about something she really shouldn't be worried about but for some reason it ate at her like a cancer. It was the fact Yamato did not inform Minato of the death of Kidomaru and that his death was caused by Naruto's jutsu. Sakura noticed Sasuke got up, telling Yamato he was going to get water at the nearby creek. As Sasuke walked away into the distance, Sakura got up and walked to Yamato.

"Yamato-teichou, can I ask you a question?" asked Sakura. Yamato looked at the pink-haired woman.

"Sure, what is it?"

"It's probably not my place to ask," she began, "But how come you didn't tell Hokage-sama about Kidomaru's death and Naruto's involvement?"

Yamato sighed, the whole trip he had been worried this was going to come up. It was just a matter of when. Now that the question was up in the air, instead of being a jerk about it, Yamato decided to answer.

"I didn't tell him because I felt it wasn't something he needs to hear," Yamato explained.

"Why not?" Sakura demanded, "Naruto is his son for crying out loud."

"Hokage-sama already feels deep anguish over their fall out," Yamato continued. "This would have just opened up old wounds from Naruto's defection."

"So you were protecting him?"

"Eventually he's going to find out," Yamato continued, "But I'd rather not be the one to tell him."

Sakura ended the conversation after Sasuke returned from the creek.

"I think it's time we head out now," Yamato said, motioning the group to follow him.

* * *

"How much longer?"

Naruto looked at Hashi with disgust. He was sick and tired of Hashi asking 'How much longer?' every five minutes. This was the last straw.

"Would you shut the hell up?" demanded Naruto. "If you don't want keep going, I'll leave you here and go my damn self."

Hashi growled by continue to walk with Naruto. Hashi felt like they've been walking non stop for days. The least they could do was take a fifteen minute break. Was that so much to ask? He knows their own a secret mission given to them by Leader-sama to kill Kabuto, but damn, a break here and there **would** be nice.

"You know, I just thought of something," blurted out Hashi.

"What would that be?" asked Naruto, preparing to hear something stupid.

"Isn't Kabuto one of Sasori's subordinates?" Hashi asked.

Naruto pondered on Hashi's question for the moment but then remembered what Leader-sama said to him in private before they left for Tenchi Bridge.

"Leader-sama knows for the fact Orochimaru broke the jutsu that bound those memories of being Sasori's subordinate a long time ago," Naruto explained, "Sasori isn't going to be happy about us killing him since he has no clue about this information."

"Why didn't he tell Sasori that and tell him to kill Kabuto instead of us?" asked Hashi.

Naruto scoffed, "Leader-sama is probably testing or loyalty to Akatsuki or doesn't trust Sasori to carry that assassination out."

Suddenly a rock came from bushes nearby in front of them and hit Hashi directly in between the eyes, causing him to lose consciousness and fall to the ground.

"Damn it," uttered Naruto.

"You're a very hard man to track down, Naruto," said a familiar voice. Naruto looked behind him to find his former mentor, Jiraiya.

"Ero-sennin," Naruto whispered, quite stunned to see the Toad Sage. Naruto looked down to the ground in sadness. _'Damn it, I was hoping to not have to face him.'_

"I'm not going to beat around the bush here kid," Jiraiya spoke. "Why are you doing this?"

Naruto stood their in silence, unable to look at his former master.

"You have one big fight with Minato and you storm off and join the Akatsuki? I don't undestand," said Jiraiya, hoping to receive some sort of response. Naruto didn't, unable to bring himself to speak any words.

"You've caused a lot of grief for your father to the fact that he personally asked me to find you and drag your ass back home," Jiraiya continued. "Then he finds out you've joined a bunch of lowlife gang..."

"This isn't what I wanted," Naruto finally blurted out. Jiraiya stood confused at Naruto's response.

"What do you mean?" asked Jiraiya, "Were you forced into Akatsuki after you left the village?"

Naruto froze up again, he couldn't tell him what was going on. No one was supposed to find out, he already felt guilty in telling Sakura, but to lie to the love of his life was just something he could bring himself to do. It was going to hurt, but he can't let it get out.

"I'm sorry Ero-sennin but this is the way it has to be," Naruto said.

Jiraiya was caught off guard by Naruto's reponse but even more so when Naruto dispersed into a cloud of smoke, he had been talking to a shadow clone the whole time. He turned to find where Hashi was supposed to be, but found a pile of sand.

"Shit, I'm losing my touch," muttered Jiraiya.

* * *

Naruto and Hashi were rushing through the forest after their encounter of the legendary toad Sannin. Naruto did not want to explain himself to his former master, at least with Hashi hanging around.

"Who was that?" asked Hashi.

Naruto tried to play stupid. "What are you talking about?"

"That old fart that approached you," Hashi answered.

"Some one from Konoha trying to arrest me," Naruto lied.

Hashi scoffed, "You're lying to me. It seemed like you two knew each other."

Naruto did something that shocked Hashi. A fist connected with his face and he stumbled to the ground.

"What the hell was that for?!" Hashi yelled. Naruto looked at him with angry frustrated eyes.

"For once, why don't you shut up and drop it," he said coldly. "My encounter with that Konoha ninja is none of your concern."

Hashi got back up and trailed Naruto and kept his mouth shut. _'He's lucky I don't slice him in half for punching me like that, but Leader-sama wouldn't like that. Fucking brat!'_

* * *

"We're here," Yamato said, motioning his team to stop. Sakura and Sasuke landed on opposite sides of Yamato.

Through a clearing, they could see a large rope bridge from one end of the canyon to the other. Standing on that bridge waiting, was a person in a grey cloak.

"Hmph. Looks like that is Kabuto," said Sasuke.

"Should we attack, Yamato-teichou?" asked Sakura.

"No," Yamato replied. "I'll attack first, you two will stay and wait for my signal to approach."

Sasuke grunted, he really wanted to get some of Kabuto. After all, Kabuto was Orochimaru's right hand man and two and half years ago, Orochimaru along with his Otokagure and Sunakagure attacked Konohagakure for two reasons, the village's distruction, and Sasuke. Luckily, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Minato defeated Orochimaru, Hiruzen sacrificing himself to seal away Orochimaru's arms and then Minato giving Orochimaru the final blow that killed him. Kabuto had gotten away, Sasuke was hoping for this day to come. Yamato knew Sasuke was getting anxious.

"Sasuke," Yamato said, catching Sasuke's attention. "What are you so anxious about? It's just Kabuto."

Sasuke didn't want to say it, but he wanted some sort of revenge for the death of the Third Hokage. After all, the old man comforted him after the extermination of the Uchiha clan by Itachi.

"Just some pay back," Sasuke replied. Yamato didn't reply but rustled around some thoughts.

"Ok, a change of plans," Yamato finally said. "Sakura, you say hidden, we don't need the Medic of our group dying. Sasuke and I will attack Kabuto. If I need your assitance, Sakura, I will signal."

Sakura nodded and Yamato and Sasuke jumped to begin their assault.

* * *

Two figures where getting close to Tenchi Bridge. One had long blonde hair in a pony tail and bangs covering his left eye. Another one, shorter and fatter and looked like he was slithering across the ground rather than walk.

"We're getting closer, hmn," said the blonde-haired ninja.

"I just hope I don't have to wait, we know how much I hate waiting," replied the short, fat figure.

"What I don't understand is why we have to come and watch that brat kill your subordinate, hmn," said the blonde.

"Deidara, Leader-sama is testing their loyalty to Akatsuki," replied the bigger figure. "After the defections of Orochimaru, Kakuzu and Hiden, Leader-sama can't take any more chance."

"Hmn, I guess I understand Sasori, my man," replied Deidara. "Aren't you a bit mad they're targeting your subrodinate, hmn?"

"No," replied Sasori. "Orochimaru broke the seal on Kabuto's brain a long time ago, he must be ellimated."

"Right, hmn."

* * *

Naruto and Hashi reached the bridge and noticed a figure with a grey cloak standing on the bridge looking into the canyon.

"Is that him?" asked Hashi.

"Possibly," Naruto said. "Let's get started."

* * *

The man in the grey cloak, stood waiting. Looking at the river below in the canyon. Meeting up with his 'master' to take him out. The last words of his real master echoed through his mind.

_'Kill the Akatsuki and revenge my death and destroy Konohagakure.'_

The man smirked under his hood. He would fulfill those wishes.

'_First eliminate Sasori and his partner, then the rest of the Akatsuki one by one._' he thought. Suddenly he felt the two chakra presences and jumped out of the way in time when four kunai hit the wood where he was standing before. Jumping out of the way also blew his hood off revealing his bug-eye glasses and grey hair. Indeed it was Kabuto.

"Konoha ninja," he said surprised. "They sent everyone after me, didn't they?"

Yamato stood there, knowing their first attack wasn't going to really work, but it was more of a distraction so it would bring Kabuto's attention just to him. Kabuto smirked and blue chakra began to glow on his right hand and charged after Yamato. Just when Kabuto was about to strike at Yamato's heart, Sasuke suddenly appeared behind Kabuto and whirlwind kicked Kabuto to the side. He slid off the bridge and now was holding on to rope to keep him from falling into the canyon. He looked up to see Sasuke and Yamato coming to him.

"Sasuke-kun," he said. "Never thought I'd run into you again."

"Yeah, well this will be your last," Sasuke said as he stood on Kabuto's hands. Kabuto yelled in pain but desperately tried not to let go. Sasuke glanced to his left and saw shadows coming at him. Sasuke and Yamato jumped back and a few shuriken flew by. They looked over to the other side of the bridge to find Naruto and Hashi standing.

"Why the hell are Konoha ninja here?" asked Hashi.

"I don't know," Naruto replied and turn his attention back to Yamato and Sasuke.

"Naruto..." whispered Sasuke.

"You Konoha ninja," Naruto began, as if he didn't know them, "If you don't wish to die, turn around and go back, we'll take care of Kabuto."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," replied Yamato. "Our mission is to assassinate him ourselves. If we leave him to you, what makes you think we believe you won't use him in the akatsuki?"

"Because he is useless for our intentions, but he does hold secrets we can't let get out so we must kill him too," Naruto replied.

Yamato and Sasuke we're so caught up with the arrival of Naruto and Hashi that they forgot about Kabuto hanging on for dear life. He took their distraction and got back up onto the bridge and decided to escape. If the Akatsuki were here, he would definately not make it out of this situation alive and ran the other direction to escape. However, he was met face to face with a pink-haired Kunoichi.

"I remember you," replied Kabuto. "You're that pathetic scaredy-cat girl on Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun's team back in the forest of death in the Chunin exams two and half years ago."

"I'm flattered you remember me," Sakura said. "However, I am not the same scaredy-cat girl from two and half years ago."

She gathered chakra into her right fist and charged for Kabuto, he wasn't going anywhere. Kabuto, however, underestimated her and waited for the attack, he was about to dodge when he noticed something was different. She tricked him into dodging the punch when he saw a foot slam into his face and threw him flying through the air. Kabuto landed in between Yamato and Sasuke and Naruto and Hashi. Before anything could be done Yamato and Sasuke heard a familar scream, the turned around to find Sakura being confronted by two more members of the Akatsuki.

"Kuso," said Sasuke.

"Sasori my man, looks like we're going to have to help out Naruto-kun by distracting the Konoha ninja, hmn," said Deidara.

"As much trouble as it will be, I guess you're right," replied Sasori.

Closer to the other end of the bridge, Yamato looked at Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I'll be the first to say I believe in your abilities. I want you to take on the blonde haired Akatsuki. I'll help Sakura take on the other one."

Sasuke nodded and leaped off to face the other two Akatsuki.

Naruto looked at Hashi, "Watch the Konoha ninja, if they get involved with us, kill them."

Hashi nooded and climbed up a tree over looking the bridge.

Kabuto tried to run away again but was stopped by Naruto. Kabuto cursed, it looks like he wasn't going to make a get away like he wanted. Kabuto preformed about five seals quickly. He wanted to no part in fighting the Akatsuki so he was going to put Naruto to sleep.

"**Nehan Shoja no Jutsu **_(Temple of Nirvana Technique)_**!**"

Feathers began raining down over the area. Naruto that was standing in front of him drifted off to sleep. Kabuto smirked and began running off.

'_Too easy,_' he thought and continued running only to be met with a kick to the gut and a fist in the face. It was Naruto, who he thought he had put to sleep.

"But how?" asked Kabuto as he coughed up a blood.

"It was a clone," replied Naruto and he went through seals. "**Fuuton: Kuuki Tama **_(Wind Release: Air Bullets)_**!**"

Naruto inhaled a bunch of air and infused it with chakra, when he exhaled, bullets of air shot out of his mouth heading for Kabuto. Kabuto tried to avoid them all, but one slammed into Kabuto's chest. He was flung backwards and hit a rock. He slid down to the ground. Blood was dripping down the side of his mouth after the impact.

"Naruto-kun," Kabuto coughed, "You're so much stronger than when I met you in the forest of death during the Chunin exams."

Naruto didn't reply to his comment and created four shadow clones. Two of them began swirling chakra into Naruto's right palm while the other two pumped in wind nature chakra creating a large shuriken made of chakra.

"**Fuuton: Rasenshuriken **_(Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken)_**!**" he said and threw it at Kabuto who was sitting against the rock, helpless.

* * *

Sasuke was staring down the blonde-haired Akatsuki member while a few feet away Yamato and Sakura were staring down the other.

"It's going to be fun showing you my art, hmn." Deidara said.

Sasuke didn't respond and got ready for the fight of his life. A small hint of doubt entered his mind whether or not he could defeat a ninja from the Akatsuki. He knows if Kakashi was here, he wouldn't let him take on Deidara by himself. Sasuke sighed, he had no time to doubt himself, he will defeat Deidara.

A few feet away Yamato and Sakura were staring down the other member of the Akatsuki, the short, pudgy one.

"Sakura," Yamato whispered, "You ready for this fight?"

"Yes Yamato-teichou," Sakura replied, putting on her gloves. "I'm ready as ever."

"Good, because it's going to take the both of us to defeat him,"

Sakura nodded and got in a defensive stance as well as Yamato. They did not who this ninja was and did not know his abilities so they were going to have to be extra careful.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this VERY LONG awaited update.**

**Next Chapter: Battle on Tenchi Bridge! Yamato & Sakura VS Sasori!**

**In the next few chapters the battles are like this:**

**Yamato & Sakura VS Sasori**  
**Sasuke VS Deidara**  
**Naruto VS Kabuto**

**Hashi will not do much fighting but will be a vital part into what I have planned for the story.**


	14. Tenchi Bridge! Yamato & Sakura VS Sasori

**Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy**

* * *

**14. Battle on Tenchi Bridge! Yamato & Sakura VS Sasori!**

Yamato and Sakura stared down the puppet master known as Sasori. Sakura was feeling a little uneasy facing an opponent with strong killer intent. Yamato place his hand on her shoulder.

"Trust in me, I'll make sure we get out of this alive," he reassured her. Although his words were sincere, she still felt shaken up. Since her training under Tsunade and the missions she would go on with Kakashi and Sasuke, she still didn't feel up to par.

Yamato decided to make the first move and threw a few kunai to scout their opponent. As they approached Sasori, he just stood there as if he was going to take the hit. However, a white, metallic tail came out from behind Sasori and swiped away all the kunai. Sakura was quite shocked that he had a tell. Yamato, however, didn't seem impressed.

_'So the rumor's are true about this guy,'_ Yamato thought as he processed what he just witnessed.

Suddenly, Sasori's tail, ripped off his Akatsuki cloak revealing a wooden body. On his back, was a massive face where the mouth was open revealing it was where his metallic tail was coming from. His right arm was wooden, but it looked like a normal arm. However, his left looked to be some sort of weapon.

"What the hell is he?" asked Sakura, terrified of what she is seeing before her.

"I figured as much," Yamato said. "It's not his real body."

Sasori chuckled, "Well I guess I have no choice but to make you two part of my collection then. I don't like to be kept waiting, so I suggest we get started with this fight."

Sakura wanted to run away, run away like she always did in the past. But then it hit her, that's all she's ever done was run away or hide behind Sasuke. At this point she felt useless. Then Sasori continued to speak.

"First, I'll remove your intestines, then I'll rip off your skin, clean the blood and treat the body so it doesn't decay," he said. "After all that's done, you two will equal 300 puppets, my collection, my art!"

Sakura looked at Yamato, who looked bored with Sasori talking. Yamato looked down back at her.

"Sakura, when we find an opening, I want you to use your brute strenght to break that puppet body," Yamato said.

"What?" Sakura said, caught by surprise.

"Like I just said," he began, "That's not his real body, it's a puppet. This is Sasori of the Red Sand from Sunakagure, he's a puppet master."

"I'm quite surprised you know who I am," Sasori said. "But he's right, this is just one of my many puppets."

"Then where is his real body?" asked Sakura. "I thought puppeteers use Chakra strings to move them?"

"That's why I want you to destroy that body," Yamato said. "I believe his real body is hiding inside."

Sasori chuckled, "I'm surprised you learned all that so quickly. I best not underestimate you."

Yamato whispered to Sakura.

"We need to be extra careful. We don't know what kind of traps he has in that puppet and I know there's going to be poison in those traps."

Sakura nodded and prepared herself for her ultimate battle. Yamato was going to create an opening and she was going to smash that puppet to reveal the real body.

Yamato and Sakura quit the chit chat and both charged at Sasori.

"So you're ready to begin, great," Sasori said as he ripped off the cloth covering his mouth, revealing that the bottom jaw can move in three places. Needles came shooting out of the mouth of Sasori's puppet body. Sakura used chakra to jump high into the air. Yamato, however, took the blow, however, it was just a Mokuzai Bunshin. Yamato appeared out of a tree and grabbed Sakura from the air and quickly back to the ground. Sasori didn't waste any time and he launched his left arm, which turned out to be some kind of missle.

"**Mokuton: Mokuzai Maruyane** (Wood Release: Wood Dome)**!**" Yamato said as he completed seals. Wood pillars came out of the ground and covered over Yamato and Sakura as the Sasori's left arm exploded into more poisoned needles that ended up impaled ino the wooden dome.

"Mokuton?" Sasori said to himself, "I thought the only one that could use that was the First Hokage."

Sasori then used his metallic tail to break the wooden dome to find no one was inside. He looked to his right he found no one, he looked left to find Sakura charging at him, chakra flowing in her hand. He quickly countered by using the tail to come at Sakura, however, wooden pillars came up the ground and wrapped around the metallic tail to hold in place.

"What the hell?!" Sasori yelled out in surprise. Sakura smirked, their plan worked.

**Flashback: (Inside the Doom)**

_The sounds of needles hitting the wood could be heard as Sakura and Yamato prepared for their next move._

_"Alright, now that we got his frontal weapons used up, I'll use more Mokuton to dig us a hole out of here." Yamato began, "Once we get out, wherever side were on, I won't you to charge at Sasori. If he uses that tail of his, I'll grab it with more of my Mokuton and hold it in place which will allow you to crush that puppet with your strenght."_

_"Hai, Yamato-teichou," Sakura said as Yamato released a wooden beam from his hand digging a hole into the ground for them to escape._

**End of flashback.**

"Damn it!" Sasori cursed as Sakura jumped and and landed a powerful punch into Sasori's puppet body, breaking it into pieces.

However, a shadow leaped out of the puppet, covered in a piece of the Akatsuki cloak. That signaled the real body of Sasori has now appeared.

"Now I am surprised you two saw through my attacks. However, I didn't take into account you'd be able to use Mokuton powers only known to the First Hokage," Sasori said, in a much softer voice than what was used in the puppet body.

"I was injected with the First Hokage's cell as a research experiment by Orochimaru, you're former partner," replied Yamato.

Sasori was quiet. Their information on the Akatsuki that was supposed to be secreative was very clear in the air to Konoha.

"Alright, time to really get serious," said Sasori as he grabbed the cloak that was covering his face and body and revealed his true identity. He had a child-like face with messy brown hair, as if he just got out of bed. His brown eyes still hold the innocence of his younger self.

Yamato looked surprised.

_'What the hell? Sasori should be way older than he looks,'_ Yamato thought to himself.

"He's - he's just a teenager," said Sakura, shocked.

Yamato just shook his head as Sasori grabbed a scroll from his cloak.

"I think I'll use this to kill you both," Sasori said. "It was troublesome to kill him and that is why he's my favorite out of all of them."

The scroll burst into a cloud of smoke, knowing the scroll summoned that was sealed inside. Once the smoked cleared, it revealed a human puppet, that had long, but small eyes and black spikey hair. Sasori held it with his chakra strings in front of him.

"Now we shall begin," he said.

"That puppet doesn't look all that bad, it looks like one that Kankurou-san carries around," said Sakura.

"I don't know Sakura, this guy seems to have killed strong people and turned them into puppets," replied Yamato. "We have no idea what this puppet is capable of."

Suddenly, Sasori attacked with the black-haired puppet and it was going after Sakura. Yamato quickly reacted, creating another wooden pillar to knock it off course. However, Sasori wasn't done yet. He got it back on track and this time on his right side, blades came out, dripping with poison and it was attacking Sakura again. Yamato, quickly leaped up and pushed Sakura out of the way, however, Yamato managed to make a wooden wall at the last second to stop the poison blades, he jumped back as the wooden wall broke into pieces. Sasori wasn't having anymore of this cat and mouse game. He raised the black-haired puppet's left hand. It opened up, revealing several seals.

"Release!" Sasori said.

The seals on the doors of the left arm broke, revealing hundereds upon thousands of snaking hands, and again, they were targeting Sakura.

_'Why does he insist on attacking only Sakura,'_ thought Yamato as he created seals.

"**Mokuton: Mokuzai Maruyane!**" yelled at Yamato.

Sakura was in panic as the sea of hands and snaking arms came at her. She closed her eyes and waited for her inevitable death as she heard the snaking hands slam into the ground, but she released she wasn't dead, dying or even in pain. She opened her eyes to darkness. She felt around until she felt surface. It was wood. Yamato had protected her again with his wooden dome. When the dust settled, Sasori noticed another wooden dome.

_'That Mokuton of his is a menace,'_ Sasori thought. _'Enough games.'_

Sasori then commanded on of the snaking hands to break through the wood and it did. Yamato saw this and cursed and rushed over to Sakura.

Sakura looked up at the hole that was just made as another snaking arm, however, the hand was missing and it looked like something was about to be shot at her. Her fears were released when purple smog began to pouring into the dome. Sakura held her breath, it was poison fog. Yamato got to the dome fast. He released control of the jutsu hoping to keep Sakura safe while he and Sasori battled, but the plan backfired. Now here we was, creating a wood drill out of his Mokuton and break open the dome. It took a few seconds, but to Sakura, it felt like an eternity. Yamato held his breath and broke open the dome and grabbed Sakura out and they hid. Sasori looked around and noticed Yamato had disappeared.

_'Where'd he go?'_ he thought as he continued to pump in poison fog into the dome, then he noticed it was coming out from behind the dome and he stopped. He commanded the snake hands to crush the wooden dome. When the poison fog cleared, he found no body in the rubble.

_'Damn it, that wood user saved her again. At this rate, it'll never end.'_

Sakura now charged at the puppet from the right with the intent to break that one as well. Sasori finally noticed her presence, he would not fail her now. He commanded another one of his snake arms to open up, shooting kunai attached with ropes. They wrapped around Sakura and took her to the ground.

"Shit!" Yamato cursed, another one of his plans failed and now Sakura was caught, he was going to have to do something quick to rescue her or she was done for.

Sakura was lying on the ground helpless, memories of Naruto flooded her mind.

_'I swore to myself that I would find a way to change Naruto's heart and get him to come home. I can't die here!'_

Sakura then did someting she'd never thought she'd do. With her free arm, she grabbed a kunai, wrapped with a paper bomb, and set it off. Sakura was sent flying through the air, but Yamato caught her.

"Sakura, what on earth did you do?" he asked. "Are you alright?"

"I'm- I'm fine," Sakura said as she rose to her feet.

_'To use the force of the blow to get out of the trap, that was crazy, too crazy,'_ Yamato said to himself.

"Yamato-teichou, no matter what happens, I'm going to destroy him," Sakura said suddenly. "If I can find anyway to change Naruto's heart and get him to come home, if that involves killing off the Akatsuki one by one, I'm going to do it."

Yamato was caught by surprised by this. He did not know about Sakura's resolve to get Naruto to come back home, but it surely was driving her to battle now. Yamato then created two Mokuzai Bunshin's to help with the battle.

"Mokuzai Bunshin's? How are those going to help?" asked Sasori.

"You'll just have to find out," taunted Yamato.

Sasori chuckled, "Such confidence coming from someone who's eventually going to die by my hands."

Yamato said nothing as the two clones revealed ninja wire. The two dashed off quickly and slashed through the wooden snake arms, breaking them into pieces. When the clones got to the puppet, Sasori, controlling the black-haired puppet battled Yamato's Mokuzai Bunshin's. After a few minutes of the stalemate, Sasori uses the black-haired puppet to slap away the Bunshin's.

"This petty fighting is useless," Sasori began, "I think it's time I truely got serious."

Sasori, using his chakra threads, opened the mouth of the black-haired puppet. Black powder began coming out of the mouth. Yamato finally recognized the technique, he finally recognized the puppet itself.

"It can't be! That puppet is the Sandaime Kazekage!" Yamato said in shock.

"You finally figured it out?" Sasori asked. "It is my favorite after all."

"So the puppet can use his jutus too, eh?" Yamato asked.

"Now we have to be extra careful, Yamato-teichou?" asked Sakura.

"Yes," replied Yamato. "The Sandaime Kazekage was viewed as the strongest Kazekage because of that technique, the Iron Sand."

"Yes, and I will use it to create whatever I want to kill you quickly," Sasori said. "The real fight has begun now!"

Sasori then controls the puppet Kazekage's jutsu and creates iron shuriken and launches them at both Yamato and Sakura.

"Shit, this is bad!" yelled Yamato as he created seals.

"**Mokuton: Mokuzai Kado **(Wood Release: Wood Gate)**!**" yelled Yamato.

A massive wooden gate came up from the ground, Yamato and Sakura ran into the woods nearby to hide as the iron suriken slammed into the wall. Although none of the iron shuriken broke through. Sasori returned the iron shuriken back into the fine, iron sand that it was. The wooden gate then broke down, however, Yamato and Sakura were no where to be found. Sasori figured they had run to the woods, so he created bigger iron shuriken and shot them at the woods, cutting down the trees and shrubs quickly, revealing Sakura and Yamato.

"Hiding is not going to do you any good when I have the Sandaime Kazekage as my puppet," said Sasori. Sasori then commanded the puppet to pull down the cloak to reveal its chest, revealing threads that were holding the chakra of the Sandaime Kazekage. It launched charka into the iron sand, in the shape of spears, and were heading for Yamato and Sakura, as the iron sand spears hit, they exploded, sending dirt and rock into the air. As the dirt cleared, a wooden dome stood, where the iron spears impaled.

"I've had enough of the Mokuton, it's time I crushe your little defense," Sasori said as he commanded the Kazekage puppet to release more iron sand. Sasori then commanded the puppet to mold the iron sand into enormous, but hard square boxes. Sasori commanded the puppet to command the iron squares to squash Yamato and Sakura. They dodged them, but the iron boxes kept coming at them. Over and over they'd dodge as the boxes slammed into the ground.

_'At this rate, we're going to tire out then get crushed to death'_ thought Yamato.

Sakura was thinking the same thing, but this time, she decided to stop running away and do something about this. She pumped chakra into her fist and charged. Yamato, stunned by Sakura's action ran after her.

"Sakura, wait, don't!" he yelled.

As a iron box came crashing down, Sakura punched the iron box with all her might and sent the iron box down into the canyon below.

Sasori was caught off guard by Sakura's attack.

_'What incredible strength, to be able to do that to my iron. When she broke Hiruko, I didn't realize he true strength. I can't do this anymore, I'll have to use _that_._'

The iron boxes Sakura had knocked into the canyon raised back up from the canyon and collided together.

"I don't like where this is going," Yamato said, preparing for whatever was coming.

"**Satetsu Kaihou **(Iron Sand: World Method)**!**" called out Sasori.

The Iron began spreading out in thin lines going across the entire battlefield.

"It's spreading everywhere," Sakura said to herself.

The iron continued to spread across the battlefield as Yamato and Sakura kept dodging. Suddenly Sakura did seals, then the iron sand pierced through her body. Sasori smirked, he finally got girl, now he could focus on the Mokuton user. Before he could though, a poof sound was heard, Sasori turned back to where Sakura's body supposed to be and finds a log.

"A subsititute technique?" asked Sasori, surprised that such a low level jutsu was used. Sasori then realized that he caught Yamato as well. Although this time, it looked like the real one.

"Well, at least I got the wood user after all," said Sasori. "You may not die from the iron sand, but you will die from the poison that infused with it. You only have three days to live."

Sasori then noticed something else, Yamato didn't react to what he said. What were they planning? Well, Sasori didn't want to find out, so he got his Kazekage puppet to attack Yamato. As it was heading for Yamato, out of the right arm, a blade came out, ready to slice through Yamato. As it got closer to Yamato, out of no where, Sakura came back into the picture and punched clear through the Kazekage puppet, destroying it completely. Sasori stayed calm though, even though he made a mistake and had forgotten about Sakura. He then took notice the Yamato that was stuck in the Satetsu Kaihou was a Mokuzai Bunshin.

_'They've taken out my Kazekage puppet, I have no choice but to use...'_ Sasori thought as he began taking off his Akatsuki cloak. He revealed that his own body was a puppet. Attatched to his back on both sides was arms with five blades on each. Where his stomach should be was a metallic rope dripping in Sasori's poison, but on the left side of his chest, held a circle with a seal on it.

"What in the hell?" Sakura said.

"My God," Yamato said, "He turned his own body into a puppet."

"I'll give that you two have gave me a run for my money," Sasori said, "Since it's been a long time since I've had to use myself in a fight."

In the middle of Sasori's back contained a compartment to hold several scrolls. Sasori then held up both his palms, revealing a weapon contained in them.

"Sakura, heads up," Yamato said as Sasori unleashed fire from the palms of his hands.

The two began dodging the flames he was shooting out. Yamato knew he couldn't use any of his Mokuton at this point, his fire would just burn it down.

"It's that the best you can do now?" asked Sasori, "To run away."

The rope in Sasori's stomach, which had a sharp spike on the end, began coming out, and went after Yamato. He was done with the girl, he should have taken him out first, so now he was going after the Mokuton user. The sharpned spike rope pierced through the right side of Yamato.

"Yamato-teichou!" yelled Sakura. She knew Sasori's rope was drenched in his poison.

"Now, you die!" Sasori yelled at Sakura and came at her, but before he could reach her, he felt something pull him.

Yamato has the Mokuzai Bunshin he thought was Yamato, and his rope was impaled in that wood, he took the clone and pulled Sasori away from Sakura. Sasori cursed for being tricked again by a Mokuzai Bunshin. Sakura then charged as Sasori was distracted by Yamato. Sasori turned to find Sakura's fist into what would be his gut and his puppet body broke into pieces and flew all across their battlefield.

While Yamato and Sakura were regaining their composure, the red, circular part in Sasori's chest what looked like little branches coming out of it slither across the ground.

"Very good Sakura," Yamato said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm a little beat up but I'm..." she said but was interrupted.

"No, I meant are you okay mentally?" Yamato asked, "Being this was your first kill and all?"

"Oh," Sakura said understanding now, she thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Let's go see how Sasuke's doing," Yamato said but they were stopped dead in their tracks.

The pieces of Sasori Sakura had broke apart, suddenly started coming back together.

"Well then I guess we were wrong," Yamato said. "He's not dead just yet."

"That was good brat," Sasori said, "But not good enough."

Sasori, using his chakra threads, grabbed the scrolls from his back and unrolled them. He then opened the right portion of his chest to reveal even more chakra threads as he attatched them to the scrolls he unrolled. He unsealed the contents of the scrolls to reveal hundreds of puppets that he can control.

"Holy shit," Yamato said, "This is definately not good."

"There's no way the two of us can fight off these puppets!" Sakura yelled.

Yamato had no choice but to create quite a bit of Mokuzai Bunshin's if they were going to survive this battle.

"**Akahigi: Hyakki no Souen **(Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets)**!** I'll show this power," Sasori said. "How am I ever going to explain that two nothing Konoha Ninja made me fight all the way to my last trick."

Sasori then sent his hundred puppets to attack. Yamato created several Mokuzai Bunshin's and along with Sakura, began defending from the puppets. Sakura began breaking them down with her brute strength she learned from Tsunade. Yamato and his Bunshin's created wooden spears and bats to break through the puppets too. The battle raged on. Sakura destroyed puppet after puppet. Even though she didn't want to admit it, she was getting tired. Using all that chakra in her punches was starting to get to her. Yamato too, with the creation of so many Mokuzai Bunshin's and all the wood creations as well, Yamato knew he was reaching his limit and they had so many more puppets to break through. They dodged and weaved against Sasori's puppet's traps and continued breaking them into pieces one by one.

Twenty minutes have passed and they were still at it. Sakura was starting to feel sick from using up so much chakra. She cursed herself for her weakness because she wasn't going to die, at least not until she got Naruto back home. Yamato, however, was faring a little better. He managed to find the time time to take a chakra pill to raise his chakra and now he could fight without tiring out. He glanced at Sakura and knew she wasn't going to last in this fight, so he began fighting through Sasori's puppets to get to her to give her a chakra pill too. Yamato finally reached Sakura, allowing his Mokuzai Bunshin's to fight off Sasori's puppets on his behalf for the moment.

"Sakura, take this," Yamato said, handing Sakura a pill.

"A chakra pill?" Sakura asked.

"Eat it, you're not going to last without it," Yamato said. Sakura took the pill from Yamato and swallowed it. Instantly she felt her chakra be restored. Now she could finish the fight. Yamato got back into position and the two Konoha ninja began breaking Sasori's puppets one by one again.

"Just give up and die," Sasori said, "You won't make it through."

Yamato and Sakura didn't heed Sasori's words and continued to smash and break Sasori's puppets one by one. Finally there was only a few puppet's left so Yamato knew it was time.

"Sakura, go ahead and go after Sasori, me and my Mokuzai Bunshin's can handle the rest of these puppets," Yamato called out.

Sakura nodded and began weaving around the puppets while Yamato destroyed them. When Sakura got close enough, she threw a wooden ball. Sasori smirked, what would a wooden ball do to him, but the wooden ball opened up into a wood slab with spikes and slams into Sasori, which slams him to a rock, immobilizing him.

"Alright Sasori, you've been immobilized, it's over," Yamato said. Sasori didn't reply. However, what they didn't realize, Sasori arose in another puppet body from behind Yamato and Sakura and he went for the attack. Sakura realized the puppet they had immobilized was now just an empty shell. She turned quickly to notice Sasori running to attack Yamato, but before she could say anything a sword went through Yamato's body.

"Yamato-teichou! Are you okay?" Sakura asked.

"My blade, of course, has poison too," Sasori replied. Sasori then locked up. Sakura eyes widened. Pierced through the Sasori's left side of his chest was a wooden spear.

"How?" Sasori muttered.

Yamato appeared from behind Sasori.

"I figured out after your first body came back together that this circular object in your left chest cavity was the part of your real body," explained Yamato. Sakura looked over at who was supposed to be Yamato to find it morphed back into another Mokuzai Bunshin.

"Through this whole fight, you still couldn't tell which was me or which one was a Mokuzai Bunshin," Yamato continued. "For a member of the Akatsuki, you're careless."

Sasori didn't say another word and slumped over. The life that was still running through Sasori's real body part ran out thus ending in Sasori's death.

Sakura landed on her butt, exhausted from her fight. Yamato then checked Sasori to make sure the fight was really over.

"Well, it seems he really is dead," said Yamato.

"I'm glad you figured out where to hit, I would of never guessed there was still part of Sasori's real body in his puppet body," Sakura admitted.

"You're still young and got a lot to learn," Yamato replied, "And your battle experience is small, once you gain a higher experience in battling, you'll start to pick up on enemy's tactics and attack patterns. That's how I figured out how Sasori's puppet body worked. I just had to find an opening to pierce Sasori's chest."

Sakura nodded, she was about to lay down to rest when they heard a massive explosion nearby. Seeing a massive fire cloud getting sent into the ground, it was coming from the area Sasuke went to fight Deidara. Sakura then thought the worse.

"Sasuke-kun!" she yelled. Yamato and Sakura then ran in that direction to see if Sasuke was ok.

* * *

**I know the fight between Sasori and Sakura went sort of like in cannon, but it still had its differences.**

**Next Chapter: Battle on Tenchi Bridge! Sasuke VS Deidara!**


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